


The Clockwork Girl

by Xoira



Category: Death Note, Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga), Death Note: Another Note
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Asexuality, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Autism, Bisexuality, Canon Genderbending, Celibacy, Character Death, Chastity, Consensual Underage Sex, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Romance, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Gen, Genderbending, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Narcissism, Non-Consensual Touching, One Sided Relationships, One-Sided Attraction, Postpartum Depression, Rape/Non-con Elements, References to Depression, Romance, Sexism, Sexist Language, Sexual Tension, Sibling Rivalry, Sister-Sister Relationship, Sisters, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 18:52:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11950491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xoira/pseuds/Xoira
Summary: Light always had a clockwork-like schedule. That way allowed her to perform her duties efficiently and show her perfect behavior to the world. A routine with no changes. It was until a dark notebook fell from the sky, that she learned to adapt her schedule  to the changes that notebook and the Shinigami attached to it brought to her life.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Alexithymia](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/319890) by whisperingmist. 



> Before anyone throws their virtual tomatoes at me, I'm aware how unoriginal this chapter is, basically just a retelling of half of DN's first episode. But take in mind this is the first chapter, a mere introduction. It's going more of its own story as it progresses.
> 
> Not a native English speaker either. So feel free to point out any mistakes in the comment section and I'm gonna correct them.
> 
> 01/9/2017: My description of mental illnesses is based in my own knowledge, which is limited. I mean no offense.

_"...The extinction of species has increased to an alarming rhythm the last 40 years..."_

The teacher keep rambling on his broken English, as the student in the corner of the classroom blocked him. Normally global warming would be worrisome subject for Light Yagami, but no today. Besides she was already fluent in English, she didn't needed it. To entertain herself, she started drawing the school yard, but eventually she lost interest in that too.It was a mind numbing day, where nothing couldn't grasp her attention.

It was such a shame that Japan had such rigid rules about grade skipping. At 12 she already knew the school's curriculum, she could have been able to graduate much earlier.

Her parents were aware of that, so they always tried to stimulate her body and intellect. At five, piano lessons with Miss Park, the Korean florist neighboor. At six, ballet lessons in the local academy. At 7, she started painting. Many other activities came after.

She wondered if her parents would allowed her to skip grades if it was possible. She snorted. Probably not. Her parents (well,mostly her mother) always insisted in the importance of being not just intellectually capable, but emotionally and socially too. And with her issues,she had to agree...

Yes, she had issues... Since she entered puberty, she started to change. It wasn't obvious and she had just recently noticed, but since a few years back, she felt trapped, with feelings of boredom and dispair, focusing in just the ugly aspects of life.

Not only that, but she always tended to look down at most people in disdain, and always adopted a patronizing actitude towards them.She knew this 'cause she remembered how happy she was interacting with others when she was younger. She tried to muster those feelings back, but she couldn't. She was aware of all this, and she felt disgusted by herself at being that kind of person, but she couldn't help it. None of them couldn't keep up with her intellect, so they couldn' t fully understand her, _except him._

 _Probably it wasn't puberty that triggered her changes. Maybe was his dissapearance._ She shocked her head to dispel such thoughts. It wasn't healthy to keep angsting over that, after two years... _Onii_ - _chan_...

After many hours with her nose on psychology books and the Internet, she determined she must have clinical depression and a certain level of Narcissism Disorder. Fortunately didn't seemed to be severe of her case, but it could reach a dangerous level if continued untreated for a long time.

She probably should open the subject to her parents. Or, she could just wait to be 18, move out from home and treat her problem discretely. She was loath to admit her weakness to anybody. Besides she didn't want to worry anybody.

Her musing was momentarily interrupted as her teacher asked her to translate a quote from Darwin. She read perfectly, with just a subtle accent. The teacher congratulated her, with a sly smile on his mouth. She shuddered, another reason why she didn't like him. She was always under the impression he was leering at her, under the disguise of "praising" her hard work.

Another thing that was the object of lust, awe or envy for most people: her great beauty. She was long limbed like a ballerina, with a lovely willowy frame strenghtened by years of physical exercise. She had luscious, warm chocolate brown hair, marking her oval face and matching her luminous olive skin and rust-colored lips. But her eyes definitely were her best characteristic: accompanied with straight-shaped brows and long, dark eyelashes, they were the color of amber gemstones: a vibrant mix of gold, orange and red.

She took care of her appearance, but tried to not let get on her head. Beauty was such an useful tool, but a very fickle one. Aging was all it took to dissapear. Besides she had heard comments about "how she is too pretty to be that smart" too many times. It was annoying.

It was in that moment her eyes caught a black thing falling in the school yard. Normally something like that wouldn't caught her attention, but that thing didn't fall from the terrace of the school, but higher. How? It was thrown from a helicopter or something?

As on cue, the bells ringed, signaling the end of school's day. Thank God.

* * *

What the hell was this?

She didn't know what she expected, but an emo, gothic notebook called "Death Note" sure wasn't.

1\. _The person whose name is written on this notebook shall die"_ This must be a hate notebook, where you write names of people you dislike. Like when you see messages about how "Said person is such a stealing boyfriend @/#%. Die bitch!" in the girls' restrooms?

_"Oh well, at least I have a notebook for free"_

* * *

Light's room wasn't like most people her age. It lacked the messiness typical of teenagers. Red, gold and white composed the color palette of the place. It had a mahogany desk next to her bed, a built-in wardrobe, and an antique trunk who served as closet/seat. Books were scattered across the room, on her night table and floating shelves on the walls, along a few paintings. It wasn't a luxurious room, but an extremely tasteful, tidy one. However, it had a touch of impersonality, like it was a hotel room instead of the regular bedroom of a young girl.

_1\. The person whose name is written in this notebook shall die_

_2\. If the cause of death isn't specified in 40 seconds after the victim's name is written, the person is gonna die from a heart attack._

Yup, definitely a hate notebook.But why it was written in English instead of Japanese?

Meanwhile the news were passing a live transmission about a hostage situation in Shinjuku. The agressor's name was Kurou Otobarada, 42 years old, and his criminal record was rather minor.

 _"Just for the kicks"_ she thought while writing his name on her new notebook in elegant kanji. And after some thinking... _Again, just for the kicks,_ she wrote "You pansy cocksucker, DIE!!! The kind of messages her classmates liked to write about others and giggle about.

She felt embarrassed at her own inmaturity as soon she finished writing that. Writing obscenities about others wasn't funny as her classmates seemed to think. She started erasing when the reporter announced that the hostages were coming out!

 _What_? After some dialogue between the reporters, they announced the suspect was found dead. She felt a punch to the gut in that moment.

 _Dead?_ her eyes traveled to the page. She hadn't erased his name, just her embarrassing comment. _Impossible_. But then the reporter drop another bomb to her. The suspect suddendly collapsed.

 _Collapsed_? _As a heart attack?_ Before she could enter on full panic, her mother announced it was almost 6PM. Time for _juku_. She hastily grabbed her messenger bag, her laptop, and THE notebook, with the delicacy she could hold a newborn. Then she left to his father' study behind the kitchen, to grab another ítem she needed before her mother noticed.

" _He collapsed? So? It could have been an aneurysm or an embolism. It's coincidence. It has to be. But what are the odds?... I have to test it again. Just in case"_

Unbeknownst to her, a God of Death was watching her panicked moves and laughing at such _quality entertainment._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments.
> 
> This fic borrows elements of Alexythimia, one of the best GB fics I have read... (despite the fact it just has 3 chapters) and other fics I will name later, because I'm unoriginal like that :D The lack of GB fics on this fandom is what made write this.
> 
> I have just a vague idea of where this is going, so any suggestions are welcomed.
> 
> Poll for the audience: Should Light kill Lind L.Taylor or not? Not killing him would be more original (since it was such an obvious trap), but it would mean sacrifice my favorite DN moment. Tell me what you think in the comments.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sighs* Another extremely close to canon chapter. But that's expected given that nothing much can be changed in the first episode of DN. Hopefully next ones are going to be more of its own thing. 
> 
> My question from the previous chapter is still up, so you can still give me your opinion in comments.

Closing the toiled lid of the cleanest bathroom she could find, Light sat and opened her laptop. She wasn't in the nursing room, like she said to the teacher, but accesing to the NPA's files to find someone to test the Death Note. It had to be someone she could find name and face ( hence her searching in the NPA's archives) but unimportant enough in the great scale of things.

Her privileged memory filed away numerous names of criminals, she was going to write some of the names and test it already when Shiori, one of her classmates, started knocking and asking if she was sick or anything.

She made a bullshit excuse about a virus, all while cursing Shiori's terrible timing.

* * *

Behind her calm exterior, Light's mind was racing, and had been that way the entire class. She barely resisted the urge to grab her messenger bag and press it protectively against her chest, where the Death Note was hidden.

"Ryo, give me twenty. Now"

 _Sudou._ She hated that guy. Such a slacker. He had harassed her through the whole middle school to date with him. It was until he learned her father was a cop that he finally backed off. He was held back a year, and juku was a way to level off himself, but he wasn't doing a good job at that. _"I should write his name in the Death Note."_

Ok, maybe not. Sudou may be a slacker, a bully and an asshole, but he wasn't really a bad person. She needed to give punishment to the ones who really deserved.

Finally, 10:00PM. She couldn't wait to test her theory. She faintly heard Shiori and few girls talking about unimportant stuff like parties and cute boys. While Ryo started complained about "his useless mother"

 _"Once you start looking around,you start wondering if you actually will be doing a favor to society be getting rid of these people."_ She surprised herself by such harsh thoughts, but these people were so self absorted, so dim witted. She was so much better than them!

 _"Narcissist much?"_  her inner voice inside her chuckled.

She groaned inwardly. According to one of her books, _Narcissistic people may not be only aware of it, but embrace it too._ Light, perfectionist as she was, couldn't do that. Everyone looked at her as a role model person. Being a narcissist wasn't perfection, it wasn't the image she wanted to have about herself. It just wasn't _normal._

"Hi baby, have a little fun with us!"

Damn. She had gotten lost on her thoughts and didn't realize she was on a different route of her usual one. Now a creep was trailing her, and she accelerated her pace. It was until he catched her with his motocycle that she looked at his face.

**Takuo Shibuimaru.**

He was accused of the killing of two children; and he was also suspected of the rape and sexual assault of at least 3 teenage girls, but he wasn't never found any proof. It was such a luck that his name was one of the ones she had seen in the NPA database earlier.

"Man, you really outdid yourself Takuo. You always pick pretty ones, but this one here is smoking as fuck." Double damn. Light was trained in both Aikido and Karate.* She could take Takuo in close distance, even if armed, but they were 4 of them.

Takuo grabbed her by behind, pressing a metal bar to her throat, much to her horror.

"Who goes first? You?" one of them asked signaling to Takuo.

"Nah, Utako. You may go first. I call dibs on this beauty's ass though!" he said palming Light's bottom. She was thankful she decided to wear jeans instead of her preferred skirts or dresses.

When "Utako" tried to pull down her jeans, she froze momentarily, thinking that was the kind of thing that happened to other girls, not her. Not Light Yagami.

She shrugged her frozeness off, staring hard at Utako fumbling with her belt. They were going to regret messing with her!

She grabbed both Utako's hands, and delivered a vicious kick to his face. The gurgling sound of him choking on his own blood was music to Light's ears. She surely broke his jaw.

They weren't expecting that, judging by their shocked expression. Even Takuo's hold on the metal bar loosened, and Light took the chance to headbutt him, untangle herself out of his hold, grab the metal bar and smashing it to the other goon's face. She felt pain on her side, a superficial knife slash made by the fourth one, but the adrenaline made her ignore it and just start running across the empty street.

Wait. She grabbed the Death Note out of her bag while running and started writing "Takuo Shibuimaru" and then, "traffic accident."

"Takuo, you okay?"

"What are you dicks doing? Grab the bitch! he said angered climbing to his motocycle.

"Takuo you're hurt!" He made a beeline for Light. _"Dumb cunt doesn't even try to run away!"_

The seconds tickled. Light moved her hand to the concealed weapon on her bag, the Springfield XDs. 45 from his father's study, in case the Death Note didn't really worked out (and man, wouldn't that be _so_ dissapointing)

Out of the _nowhere_ , a train passed and smashed Takuo with all its might. The impact was so great that his brains splattered in the pavement, and some blood even stained Light's face.

She didn't paid any mind to the blood on her face, not to the sorrowful cries of Takuo's men at seeing their leader's body destroyed across the street. She didn't cry, she didn't scream. Not even the fact they tried to rape her crossed her mind. Her only thought was:

_"The Death Note is real!"_

* * *

Sachiko pulled out a fresh batch of oat cookies and a steaming cup of hot cocoa to her eldest. She was such a good daughter. She always offered to pick her up from juku, but she always declined, argumenting she was almost a grown up. She still couldn't help but worry a little. And the smile on her face vanished when Light entered her house.

"My God, Light, what happened?

Light grimaced. After the incident earlier, she wandered on the streets, and the rain washed the blood for her. Her soaked dark t-shirt hid her wound too. Still, she must look a little worse for wear.

"I got...mugged." She didn't want to share what happened to her earlier. Her mother would just try to smother her. She was just fine, thank you very much. And more important, she wasn't going to give her any privacy, something she really need it now...

Thinking of her new toy made her smile.

"It's ok mum. They were creeps and all, but I get away from them in time. Here, the result of the national tests. I'm number one again."

Sachiko breathed in relief. Nothing serious could have happened if Light was sporting such a bright smile. Her test results must be having her in such high spirits.

Indeed, Light was on high spirits. She couldn't wait to get her hands on her notebook again.

"I feel a little tired mom. I'm gonna sleep, so don't bother me."

She missed the brief hurt that passed in the older's woman eyes at her cold dismissal.

"Okay, here." She said handing the cookies and mug to Light. Anything else honey? With these results, you can ask anything."

Sachiko was blessed again with another beautiful smile, the one that she hadn't see Light give in a long time. And her heart warmed at the sight.

_I already have what I want._

* * *

It was near 5:00 AM and Light was still up, staring intently at her page with criminals' names on it.

"You seem to enjoy it. Hyuk Hyuk"

With the Takuo Shibuimaru incident only a few hours ago, her body reacted instinctively and she inmediately threw a spinning kick to the place where she heard the voice. But nothing was there.

"Woah, Calm down doll face." Said the Voice behind her, and she quickly turned.

Light **screamed.**

* * *

The _thing_ on her bedroom was around 7 ft tall, with a body anatomically impossible  (impossible for humans, that's it). Hands were long and clawed, with a white chalky face twisted in a permanent, grotesque smile. Oh, and it wasn't an _it_ , but a _he_ called Ryuk. A Shinigami, a God of Death.

That, and he was shy around girls too.

She was repulsed when she heard the story about how Shinigami extended their own lifes by killing humans. That was the purpose of her species? Being killed to extend the lifespan of others?

On the bright side, the notebook was infinite and hers to do as she pleased.

"So, nothing is going to happen to me by using the notebook?"

"You are going to feel the fear that only Death Note users feel" Good thing she wasn't easily scared then.

** "And you can't go  to Heaven nor Hell for all eternity." **

If anybody asked, she was going to deny to death, but in that moment, she feel a near uncontrolable need to cry. Not Heaven nor Hell? She was condemned to all eternity because this? She was prepared for that, after all, she originally thought that a Shinigami was going to take her soul, but to actually heard it, well...

But something on Ryuk's face ticked her off as he said that. She was good reading people, not Shinigami, but something was definitely off...

"It actually exist Heaven or Hell? Oh it's just a lie you made?" Probably she was just asking to console herself, after all the creature said...

Ryuk stared at her for a second, then started laughing. "Aren't you a smart one? Hyuk, hyuk! Well yes, you're right, I lied! All humans go to Mu when they die. Death is equal for everyone."

She didn't know if that was better or worse. She was happy that she could get to use the Death Note with no consequences, but she was angry at the fact that all deeds became inconsecuential in the afterlife.

"You have just gotten the notebook, in what, 12 hours? And you already have 6 names? Most people hesitate with just one."

"There was no reason to hesitate. They all deserved it. All of them were murderers and rapists." The names there were Takuo's men. After snooping, she found out that their names were also in the NPA database. They all died by gruesome "accidents". She smirked at the thought.

"Really? "

"Really. I already decided for what I need this notebook."

* * *

_Flashback_

_"They are dead. I killed them."_

_Rain poured her clothes and skin. But her mind was busy replaying both the deaths of Kurou Otobarada and Takuo Shibuimaru._

_"Who do I think I am to impart judgement in others? To be judge, jury and executioner."_

_Holding herself against a nearby wall, she forced herself to calm down. All right, she killed them. Why she was so affected? She knew about the possibility of getting tangled with a criminal in her quest to test the Death Note, in fact she even brought a gun with her in the case that the Death Note wasn't real. She knew killing someone was a possibility, so there was no point on whining over that. And more important, they deserved it. One of them even tried to rape her!_

_"They deserved to die! Those people are the ones who make Earth a worse place to live every day..."_

_A metaphorical bulb iluminated her brain in that instant._

_"... Yeah, that's it. On other people's hands, this power would be total madness. An instrument of mass destruction. I'm the ONLY one who can give it a proper use" "The world is slowly rotting. But with this notebook, I can fix that"_

_A tiny smile appeared on her lips, her backpack and clothes suddendly feeling much lighter that before._

* * *

_End Flashback_

"I'm going to start eliminating criminals across the globe. That way the world is finally going to start a change for the better. The path of humanity right now is a path which only leads to our own annihilation. But with the Death Note, I can change all that."

"And you want what? Became a god or queen for the masses or something?"

She frowned. She would be lying if that thought had crossed her mind in the past hours, exciting her. _A Goddess of justice_ , but she dismissed it quickly. She need to keep her ego down. She was human, she wasn't omnipotent, her sore throat and slash to her side were proof of that. And if manga, literature and comics had teached her anything, was that people with God complexes never won.

Thank heavens for her awareness of her mental state.

"No. I'm going to a unbiased being of Justice. Anonymous, faceless, hidden on the shadows. A supernatural vigilante, if you will"

"I still don't get it. What's the point? What you gain from all this?"

"I was bored too" she admitted staring at the balcony. Sunlight from the dawn was starting to creep on her room, while a soft breeze was falling from the grey skyline. "But now I have a purpose and more power than any human has. You dropped the notebook to feel something more than boredom, didn't you? Well, with the Death Note, I feel something too. I feel a sense of accomplisment at doing something for the sake of mankind."

"Most people would use this notebook to personal gain. They wouldn't use for other people's wellbeing. Even if they have the right idea, most wouldn't have the intelligence, the drive and the guts to do what's necessary to change the world."

_"But I **do** , I **can** , and I **will** "_

Seeing her eyes flash in determination at her own words. Ryuk knew that the Death Note couldn't have been picked for a better person. _So fun, So interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments.
> 
> I always amused me how quickly Light started ranting about being God in the very first episode. Female narcissists tend to be less over-confident than male narcs, so Light here doesn't have the God complex that canon!Light had, at least not yet. However, she still has a sense of superiority over others.
> 
> Narcissistic and depressed people can be aware or not of their mental state. It depends of the person. Most of the ones who are aware embrace it. Light doesn't because being narcissist doesn't fit her criteria of a perfect person, which is what she wants or believes herself to be.
> 
> *Canonically Light has to have some sort of fighting skill to keep up with Capoeira-trained L, don't you think?
> 
> Speaking of L, next chapter contains our favorite raccoon-eyed detective! Stay tuned!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sweet-toothed detective enters the scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a native English speaker, so feel free to point out any mistakes in the comment section.

"Having finally made his dream a reality, he was overwhelmed by the sense of his own achievement and the joy it brought him _"_

"Absolutely flawless. But I'm not surprised of course. Very good."

No even her leering professor could ruin Light's good mood. Two weeks had passed since Light had gotten the Death Note.

The Death Note was now a pasted book with flowery, girlish details, discretely covering the pages containing the rules too. At simple view, appeared like nothing except a simple schoolgirl notebook. She keep writing names between classes and every chance she got. At two weeks, her body count was around 300 persons, all of them composed of the cruelest murderers, rapists and pedophiles around the world. All of them by heart attacks.

She also had became accostumed to the constant presence of Ryuk on her life, who followed her around like a ugly dog. Although the Shinigami was annoying with his addiction to apples, she liked to engage in conversations with him and when he wasn't annoying her with apples, he was sort of interesting too.

She politely rejected the offers to hang out after class and a boy that probably wanted to ask her out. She had something much more important to do right now.

Life was good.

* * *

9894.25 km* away, a heated discussion between all the Polices Forces in the World was taking place.

"Almost 140 death had happened last week, all of them were criminals" Started the US representative in Interpol, Michael O'Reilly.

"Most of these deaths were from criminals serving prison times. I think it's safe to say that there is surely a lot more deaths not accounted yet."

Soichiro Yagami, chief superintendent of the NPA and Matsuda Touta, a rookie detective on his division, watched the incensed room with attentive eyes.

Alejandro Santana, Colombia's representative on Interpol, was less enthusiastic about it "These criminals were ones of the worst the world has ever seen. Good riddance, I would say."

While many dangerous countries with high crimes' index seemed to shyly agree with that sentiment, most of them were less than pleased with Santana's statement.

"WHY IT SHOULD MATTER IF IT'S AN INNOCENT OR NOT! As long as I'm concerned, murder is still murder!"

"Still to early to say if it's a homicide." another one piped one.

"And how those criminals died from sudden heart attacks at the same time? That's not concidence, that's murder!

"Explain to me then how's that even possible"

"We believe this must be the work of a powerful, large organization."

"If it's a large organization. I'm sure I'm not the only suspecting the CIA or NSA. It's the USA, is always them, getting their noses in other's business"

"I DARE you to say that again!" O' Reilly furiously exclaimed.

"I see no way to solve this. If that's the case, we have not choice but to bring in **L**."

At the mention of "L" the room went almost eerily silent, most of them discussing in low whispers instead of the thunderous voices of before.

Matsuda Touta, the rookie detective of the NPA, asked to his superior "Chief, who's this L they are talkin about about?

Soichiro Yagami smiled tiredly "L is the greatest detective in the world. He has solved the greatest mysteries this world has ever known. We don't know his real name or face, he communicates throught his assistant Watari, but he is the best of the best. A last resort. A trump card"

"But we don't know how to contact him!"

The clacking sound of shoes resonated in the otherwise silent room. All eyes turned to see a dramatic figure clad in black from top to bottom, with a long trench coat, a hat and a stocking mask on his face.

"This is Watari. Please be silent, L is already on the move"

A chorus of muted whispers came when Watari placed a laptop on the podium, and large, gothic "L" appeared on the screen. A distorted voice followed soon after.

"Greetings to all of you in the ICPO. I am **L** "

* * *

Ryuk was always so stupid, withholding vital information until the most crucial moments.

She could barely stop herself from fidget everytime she felt Sayu get too close to the drawer containing the notebook.

"Ane?"

"Uh?"

"You seem distracted"

Light smiled. In the inside, she was seething. "I'm fine"

"Are you sure? It's not a boy it is? Sayu asked teasingly

Light sighed "You should pay less attention to my _(nonexistent)_ love life and more to your studies."

Sayu smiled and keep working on her math exercises. Light was only paying half of attention. Her mind was busy thinking in the Death Note. She was sure that covering the death note and its rules was enough to hid it. But apparently, touching it made you able to look at Ryuk. She needed it to fix that.

* * *

"I already begun working on this case. I will not rest until the perpetrator or perpetrators of this crime are sentenced to justice. However, in order to achieve all this, I need that all the Police forces in this room make the compromise to support this investigation. And I also will require the direct colaboration of the NPA of Japan."

Chief Yagami decided to address the elephant on the room "Excuse me L, but why Japan?"

"I have reason to believe Kira is from Japan or someone residing in Japan"

" _Really?"_

_"Japan? It was so sure it was the USA"_

Yagami ignored those stray comments and focused in the gothic L in front of him.

 "What it's all this based on ?" he asked bravely, his voice not betraying the nervousness growing inside him.

"Why Japan you say? I think I would be able to respond these questions with a direct confrontation.

"A direct confrontation? You mean we have to confront Kira directly?"

"Exactly"

* * *

The internet was already filled with hundred of blogs and websites wondering about the unexplained deaths of criminals around the world.

Some people believed a large, extremist organization was behind it.

Others that the goverments around the world decided to get rid of criminals, in some sort of euthanasia project to get rid of "undesirable" people

But the most popular theory was that she was a divine being giving punishments to the evil doers. It was the theory with most sceptics, but the most popular at the same time.

They have named her "Kira"

"Hey Ryuk, look at this"

She almost laughed at the fanart that some people made, representing Kira as a tall being covered by a dark robe and holding a scythe. 

"This is supposedly you?" asked Ryuk, laughing at the over-the-top pictures too.

"Yeah. I guess a young, academically minded woman isn't what people have on mind when they think of Kira. I can't say I'm flattered by those pictures, or the name itself. Kira as "killer" in english isn't what I would chose for a name per se, but they have taken a liking to it."

She feels very satisfied with herself, looking at their support. The guilty ones are hidden fearing her wrath, while the innocents, with nothing to fear, cheered her on. Probably not in public, but in private, where their opinions remains anonymous.

The Death Note is hidden is her fake drawer now, so she is now safe.

* * *

Lind L. Taylor was convicted by the murder and rape of her stepdaughter. He used to be an accountant.

He is tall and handsome. In his mid thirties. The perfect image of what most people would think L looks like.

If this charade works, he is going to be killed by Kira, but L promised him to ensure the financial security of his family. In the case that didn't happen, his execution would be postponed a year more.

Everything is ready. 

* * *

_I am Lind L Taylor, otherwise known as **L**._

The title resonates very vaguely on the corners of Light's memory but she ignores and keeps looking at the screen, wondering who is this guy. And why this announcement, worldwide no less, made by Interpol. She have never heard of something like that happening before!

"Criminals around the world are murdered by a serial killer. I consider this the most atrocious act of mass murder of history, with around 200 victims up to date. I will not rest until the person or people responsible for these crimes are put behind bars. **Kira** , I'm going to hunt you down. I will find you.

Ryuk snickered "He is so sure that he will catch you."

Light just smiled "I would love to see him try" she stared at her notebook and Ryuk "As long as the Police doesn't find this, I'm safe" And seriously, the probabilities of them suspecting that the weapon for the murders is just a simple notebook...

"I suspect what your motivations are, and I can guess and even understand what you are trying to do, but what you're doing is evil"

Light could felt her hands tremble and her pretty lips curve in a sneer. Her? _Evil?_ Who the hell this guy thinks he is, judging her without even knowing her!

"How dare you! I'm just trying to make the world a better place!" she screamed furiously

Her hands reached towards her pencil-case and after picking a pen, she started scribbling his name. But someone started knocking in her door in that moment.

"Ane?"

Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.

"WHAT?" She asked, not even bothering to hide the anger on her voice.

"You were screaming pretty loud,are you ok?"

She forced herself to calm down, and answered "I'm fine"

"Are you sure?" Sayu asked hesitantly

 _Damn it Sayu, just go away_ "Yes"

At the sound of her sister's retreating steps, she turns her attention back to the screen, when Lind L Taylor seems to be finishing his speech, and she returns to write his name down, but suddendly, she stopped.

The police had to be aware that she needed a face and a name to kill. Even if they weren't aware of that, they must know that Kira was capable of killing people without having any contact whatsoever with the victim, at differents parts of the world and at the same time.

So why this Lind L. Taylor was presenting himself to her, making very easy for her to kill him?

They probably were waiting for her to fall in panic, quit and give herself in. But still,  present yourself that way, specially if you're as important as this Lind L.Taylor supposedly was... Too risky.

But it actually existed someone with so much influence to mobilize any police organization in the world? It was almost too good to be true. Unless this Lind L Taylor was a decoy, someone the police was using to scare her.

She was so sure that killing him would be the best move.It would be a way to scare off people and a show of power. But scaring off people was actually the best move?

A lot of them seemed to think of her a Godly being. While Light was aware that she wasn't god, feeding that belief would be beneficial.They thinking of her that way was enough to inject respect and fear, not need to scare them more.

And why would God or a Godly being react to the provocations of a mortal? Ryuk, the closest thing to a God she had ever meet, would certainly not react. He probably would just laugh. If she killed Taylor, it would seem as she was affected as any normal human would be after being called evil and mass murderer.

So she didn't wrote anything and waited for the best.

* * *

It didn't worked out. L didn't really know what to think.

Based on his profile of Kira, he seemed to be a killer who believed himself some kind of merciful being giving divine punishment to the criminals. He would take offense at being called evil, didn't he?

His musings were interrupted by the Interpol calling him. 

"L,what do you think of the broadcast in Kanto?

L counted himself lucky that he hadn't explained his plan to them. They believed that his plan involved scare Kira off and than Kira started making mistakes or possibly give himself in.

They certainly didn't know that L's plan involved the live transmission of the death of a man. They would have objected at that, but L was confident that the provocation that he planned to do for Kira was going to be enough to satisfy them. Why Kira didn't fall on his trap?

"I was adequate" he answered vaguely.

"I'm sorry, but I was under the impression than that transmission was going to gives us some sort of lead towards Kira, but nothing happened. Are we even sure that he is in Japan? Soichiro Yagami asked.

He was smarter that he let on. He seemed to suspect that L's plan didn't go as planned.

But L was sure that Kira was in Japan.The very first killing was there. Probably Kira wasn't in Kanto as he suspected,but he definitely was in Japan.

"I didn't think that Kira was going to take action" That was a big, fat lie. Seemed like L had underestimated his opponent. "I mean, I hoped so, that's why I used a convict, but Kira has proved to be very sneaky and careful. However, I already made a profile on Kira. He is a very smart individual that..."

_WHAT? Que? 何? Quoi?_

Hearing the interruption, L asked them what was wrong.

"I'm sorry L, but you are actually telling us that Kira is individual, a single **man?**."

"Yes, I believe ..."

"A single person in possession of such powers! How we are going to stop this?

"I was sure that Kira was a organization as Al-Qaeda. But if Kira is a single..."

"May I continue speaking, gentlemen?" asked L in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

That did the trick and they calmed down. L could understand their fears, he really could. Kira represented the biggest threat to democracy since Alexander the Great, but god, they really needed to calm down and think logically about this.

"I'm going to send my profile inmediately. We will meet tomorrow and discuss our plan of action." L hang up.

He really needed a strawberry shortcake.

* * *

 

After the Lind L.Taylor incident. Light made some browsing in the internet.

Dozens of websites wondered about this Lind L.Taylor or "L" About how they now knew that Kira existed and that finally the Police had stopped disguising the deaths of criminals as mere coincidences."Kira and " L" seemed to be the most popular trends in Google in the last hours. Strangely enough, not much information about "L" seemed available to the public previously.

So Ligh decided to search on the Deep Web, where she found out that L was something of a myth. Apparently some believed that he was behind Cicada 3301* a few years ago and even that he was behind a conspiracy to iniciate WWIII. All those things smelled like mere conspiracy-nutjob theories to Light, but then again, the mere existence of "L" was just a conspiracy theory, until now. Probably that was the reason why the name seemed familiar to her.

"So this is the guy who is hunting you? Hyuk Hyuk. This seems very fun" Ryuk said "Although some seem to believe he is an organization and not a person."

If L really existed and wasn't just some invention from the Police, he was just one person, Light was sure of that. But L and Lind L. Taylor being the same person seemed false. Why L didn't just defied her without showing his face or name? In fact, a faceless, mysterious entity called "L" would be far more scary than a guy in a sharp suit called Lind L.Taylor. Unless...

Light couldn't help but laugh. Ryuk turned to her, asking her was what was so funny.

"I finally get it, Ryuk. Lind L. Taylor isn't really L , he is just a decoy. The real L is hidden in the shadows. He wanted me to kill Taylor." Reclining on her chair, she continued "What a ballsy move. Worthy of the world's greatest detective. But he is going to try a lot harder than that."

"That guy isn't going to leave you alone, right?"

"I can assure you this is just the beginning Ryuk"

"More fun for me!" Ryuk exclaimed delighted.

She threw him a apple.

* * *

When Light was descending from the steps, she spotted Sayu napping in the couch. She gently started to shake Sayu. She woke up and stared at her "Light what's wrong?"

With a sigh, Light sat down next her sister to the couch, she really needed to assure that her sister didn't spill anything about the incident earlier. The last thing Light needed was Sayu opening her big, fat mouth and telling their parents that she heard Light screaming like a deranged woman in her room.

 "Sayu, about earlier...How much did you heard?

"Not much, really. I just heard "how dare you" Terrific. 

"Well, this is embarrasing" Light looked directly to her sister's eyes "I want to tell you the reason I was screaming. It was about Yamamoto"

"Oh"

Yamamoto was Light's friend and their neighboor. He was also Light's ex-boyfriend, although the word "boyfriend" seemed too big for a guy she only dated a month.

"I saw some Facebook messages he left me, describing his new, "hot" girlfriend" she said in a broken voice, rubbing her eyes and cheeks, simulating being at the verge of tears.

"That's awful. What an asshole!"

"Don't insult him. I hate that" she protested weakly

"What? You shouldn't care about him anymore.He dumped you!"

In truth Light couldn't care less about that guy, in a romantic sense at least. And in reality, Light dumped _him_ , no the other way around.

 "I'm sorry. I know Yamamoto didn't mean ill, we are still friends, he is just excited and infatuated, but still... She broke off.

"Oh, Ane" Sayu gave her sister a hug, comforting her.

_"You should just quit school and became an actress, Light-o. **Hyuk Hyuk**."_

Now the moment of the truth "Sayu... you have to promise me that you are not going to tell anything about this, or about earlier to our parents. I don't want to worry them about a silly thing like this.

"My lips are sealed, Sis, don't worry" Light rewarded her with a smile.

Sayu's cellphone ringed. With some hesitation,she answered. Apparently their friends wanted to go with her to the mall.

She shot Light a look, and before she denied the invitation, Light shook her head and silently whispered "Go" making hushing gestures with her hands.

Sayu wouldn't never admit it, but she had always been jealous of her sister. She had always gotten excellent grades, she had a impeccable behavior and good manners. The only reasons she wasn't in college already was due to Japan being very strict in grade skipping. And Sayu was a pretty girl, but she was nothing compared to her drop dead gorgeous sister. But now, she could only feel guilty. She was always helping her with her homework and smiling,while hiding so much pain inside. And even hearthbroken, she was selfless enough to prefer Sayu to leave and have fun with her friends.

"Keiko, I will be there in 5. Bye" Sayu returned her attention to Light.

"Are you sure you are going to be okay Ane?

"I'm not gonna fall apart Sayu. Go and have fun. I will be ok." Before she closed the door, Sayu attempted to cheer her up "Light, I wanted to thank you, for the help in my homework" 

 _"No, thanks to you Sayu. I'm convinced that I did the right thing not killing Lind L. Taylor, and if you didn't interrupted me and forced me to calm down, I would have made a big mistake" "_ No problem. Bye"

After Sayu closed the door. Ryuk said "My, she ate that up"

Light smiled. Sayu wouldn't say a thing to her parents. Nothing better to assure her silence than a sappy sob story of a broken heart.

She needed to keep her temper in check. And she really needed to stop screaming so loud within the house.

* * *

Three strawberry shortcakes, two slices of lemon pie and a custard later, and L had reached to three conclusions.

One, that he was going to keep using Lind L. Taylor as a decoy. If L showed himself in TV ( just his symbol of course, not his real face ) he would be admitting that his plan to trap Kira failed. So, as long as the public was concerned, Lind L. Taylor _was_ L.

Two, this was the biggest case he had ever worked on, and solving it would be the pinnacle of his career.

Three, he really needed to know how Kira commited those murders. A biological weapon, maybe?

Drinking his second milkshake, L started thinking about how Kira could commit two or more murders in different location at the same time. If those murders happened at a distance that could be reached within a hour via flight, that could be reasonable.But when those murders occurred at a distance as long as Los Angeles and Sydney,one of the largest flights in the world*, he...hated to admit that, but he was at a loss of words.

And why the Lind L. Taylor gambit hadn't worked? Was because he wasn't a criminal? It was possible. Probably Kira didn't want to kill innocents. Or probably Kira felt confident in the idea that he was impossible to catch.

He needed to stretch his legs. A killer that only needed a name and a face to kill? Seemed impossible. As impossible as someone able to look at the people's real names with just looking at their faces...but...

His successors were too young and inexperienced to be any help on this case. And while L was confident that he could solve this alone, if his suspicions were true; he really needed to talk to someone about this case, someone who wasn't Watari or Interpol.

Seemed like he was going to pay a visit to his _defective_ Backup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave Kudos or/and comments!
> 
> We are getting into AU territory now.
> 
> *9894.25 km is the distance between Tokyo and Lyon, the latter being the headquarters of Interpol.
> 
> *Cicada 3301 is a serie of puzzles. Nobody knows who are behind those puzzles. It has been called "the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age" and is listed as one of the "top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the internet" by The Washington Post.
> 
> *The information about the flight distance between Los Angeles and Sydney was pulled out from Inception.
> 
> What was your favorite scene of this chapter? Mine was Light manipulating her sister.
> 
> Who is L going to visit next chapter?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two alumnis of the same school have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a boring chapter. The only good thing in this chapter must be Beyond Birthday 's introduction. The next chapter contains more action. I still hope you guys enjoy this.
> 
> Not a native English speaker, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

"DAD!!!" exclaimed Sayu throwing herself in the arms of her father. They were in Haneda Airport waiting for the last hour or so for Soichiro to come back from his travel to France.

The less expressive Light just came to her father with a fond smile on her lips. "Hi father" while Sayu untangled herself from her father's embrace and Sachiko placed a chaste kiss on her husband. Her father reciprocated with a smile of his own.

"How was your flight, dear?"

"Tired"and his raspy voice let know that he was telling the true.

"France wasn't lovely as people say?"

"Maybe,I didn't really had time to explore so. Most of the time was spend cooped between conferences,reunions and my hotel" he said.

Light was absolutely sure that his father's travel had something to do with Kira. After all, he went just two weeks after she started her debut as Kira. It had been three days after the whole Lind L Taylor thing. No more announcements had been made. In fact, the reason why her father had gone was because Kitamura-san was recovering from a surgery and couldn't go himself. Meaning they just send the most important members of the Japanese Police to Lyon.

Her father,mother and Sayu spend the next hour or so speaking about meaningless things. Light was a reserved person by nature, so nobody questioned her for being quiet. She was thinking how approached her father for information. She had helped solve a few cases for the Police since she was ten, and when she was 14 she had solved the Takayuki Ohigashi* case by herself. So it wouldn't be inusual for her to take an interest in the Kira case.

But it was tricky business. Kira was unlike any... _phenomenon_ that had ever existed ( _she refused to use the term criminal or mass murderer for herself, she wasn't going to.)_ and her father may get overprotective on her. Most of the cases he had let her help him solved were of white collared nature or petty ones. She had solved important one but let her finding for herself in order to not worry him. The only reason the Takayuki Ohigashi was because she already has solved on her own, and due to how important and wealthy Ohigashi was, the Police was under pressure by the Media.

She decided to just test the waters. After all, Kira and L was all people had been talking, and Kira was already public knowledge, so it like she knew something she shouldn't.

"So Dad, what was the conference about?" she said widening her eyes in order to appear innocent.

Her father turned to look at her with a strange expression on his face, like he didn't know if he should tell her or not. Her father knew she wasn't a big mouth, and he had let her on some on his work.

" Just some boring conference" A lie good enough for anyone except Light. She could see his eyes shifting. He wasn't used to lie to her.

That was even more interesting. Her father rarely let her help him, but even then, he usually told her the basic details of the case. If he was relunctant to even told her, was becuase the case was very secretive. Definitely the Kira case.

So she just pushed further. She waited until they were in the house to look at her cellphone, let a dramatic sigh and put it back in her purse. Her mother turned to look at her.

"Light was wrong?"

"Nothing mom. It was Eichii* bothering me" her mother chuckled. She was fond of him.

"What he was saying?" " Texting me about his dumb, nutjob thories about Kira. It's all he talks these days"

Now her father looked very interested in their conversation.

" That's what everyone talks these days! I thought you would be more interested on that Light! I mean, the whole message was broadcasted around the whole world! That shit scared me!"

"Sayu, language!" her mother scolded. Sayu promptly apologized.

"Of course I'm pretty interested in the Kira case! Just not on Eiichi's dumb theories" Light stated with a calculated roll of her eyes.

"Some people say that Kira is a god, of course I..." Sayu was interrupted by her father.

"Kira is not God. He is just a murderer" his father said with an air of finality. Sayu looked sad and he picked that up. "Let's not talk about murders here. Enough of that. Let's go to Shiba Tofuya."

Well, she wasn't going to get information from her father. But she was sure that he was involved in the Kira case. She could wait.

* * *

 

The chair was comfy. The chains on his wrists tying him to the chair, not so much. The face was not longer disfigured, thanks to the best surgery the money could buy, but some scars still were present on his face, shoulders and arms. A small table with a laptop with a gothic L and a shadow behind it were the only things besides him in the room.

"Hello Beyond. I see your face has healed favorably"

"Hello Lawliet. May I ask what you are doing sitting in the shadows with your computer here on the table? I have already see your face. Or are you taking your cosplaying and Batman's complex to the max?"

L's jaw tightened slighty at both the use on his name and his jive, but he didn't let it show. If he was being honest (and he usually never was), years of paranoia had made him do that. But Beyond had a point. He already knew his name and face, so what was the point of hiding?

"You should know one or two things about _Cosplaying_ , don't you?" He said stepping onto the light and Beyond grinned " And you have a thing for dramatic entrances, or what?"

"As much as I would love to exchange jives, I had something much more important to discuss with you"

"It's that so?"

"You know about Kira?"

"Are you aware that people here limit my access to TV? Most of the time I spend watching Akazukin Chacha's reruns."

"On TV Tokyo?"

"Yes?"

"It's strange then how you haven't heard about Kira. Kira is a criminal that kills people with heart attacks."

"My, I'm so flattered. Finally asking you Backup for help?"

L smiled humorlessly "Don't flatter yourself Beyond. I can solve this on my own, I just want a second opinion. This case is dangerous, so I wouldn't want to put my succesors at risk unless is absolutely neccesary" _"You aren't worth enough to worry" were the unspoken words._

Beyond seemed taken aback by L's reply but he quickly recovered. Before he could speak again, L beat it to the punch.

"You should be thankful that you are on this prison specifically made by you"

"Really? So I should be thankful that I'm being your personal prisoner on a illegal prison? L felt satisfation at the fury in Beyond's words hidden under the flippant tones.

"I'm **L.** The world illegal does apply to everyone except me" Well, nobody ever said that L wasn't prone to arrogance. "Your crimes were enough to put in the electric hair. But I was talking about Kira, since he targets criminals such as yourself."

"So a vigilante?"

"You can call him that way, yes."

"Okay, thank you L, for saving me from big, bad Kira" Beyond in a sugarish tone that was anything but sincere. "And despite you saying that you don't need my help for this case. I'm gonna put my two cents anyways and say that Kira probably kills his victims with belladona*"

"No he doesn't"

"How do you know?"

"Because the murders occur in different location, at different parts in the world around the same time. Beyond whistled at that " Sounds rough. Are you even sure that he is just a single person and not an organization?" "If he wasn't a single person but an organization, they could already made some kind of announcement. Large organizations such as Al-Quada, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or FARC usually made some kind of statement about his intentions. Take for example ISIS. They already published his intention about making a worldwide caliphate goverment*. But Kira hasn't said a thing. The murders is all we have."

"Many people would assume that it's a vengeful God giving punishment to the evildoers"

"Don't be absurd"

"You don't believe in God? L didn't answer the question.

"It's Kira was God giving rightful judgement to the criminals, then you should have been the first one to drop dead"

"My, someone is cranky and I am the one behind bars. Getting lonely in the nights? It's only so much what your right hand can do for you" Beyond leered.

L ignored his leering and continued "Since Kira hasn't killed you or any criminals that happen to be free, its obvious that Kira has limitations."

"This all very interesting and all that jazz, but we are you here?

L stopped his pacing across the room and thumb-chewing to look at him with a questioning look.

Beyond shrugged. "I mean, I haven't told anything you haven't already deduced. So what's the deal?"

L sat in his trademark postion on the chair opposite to him, with a fareway look on his smoky eyes. "Kira is in Japan"

"Yeah?"

"You used to live there right?"

"Yes, and I believe you' a quarter Japanese or something. So? Your point?"

"Before the Kira case, your eyes are the biggest mysteries I have ever encountered"

Beyond's eyes widened in a mocking way. He had dark brown eyes with the smallest tint of red in them "Practicing your pick up lines on me Lawliet? Look at me. I'm swooning"he jeered making bouncing motions while still being seated on his chair.

"Letting behind the jocking, I have always wondered how you can see people's names with just looking at their faces? "

"I believed that you always thought of that as me being crazy"

"You _are_ crazy, and yes, I always thought that you were pulling my leg with that, but I'm willing to entertain a supernatural force for this case"

"Supernatural force? Are you Mr "Logic"

" ** _Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth*_** At the beginning I thought Kira used some kind of biological weapon to commit these murders. But the autopsies didn't revel a single thing outside the norm. Watari send blood samples of every prisoner killed by Kira to a colleague, and again the results didn't revel anything. I already made exams in the prison guards. They didn't showed any shymptoms of having a contagious illness either. L said in a single breath, surprising his companion.

"Kira must be having your panties in a bunch" But he decided to have some "pity" on the insomniatic detective "Look, I don't know why I have these eyes or how Kira kills. I used to live in Japan, but I can't tell you anything else"

Beyond wasn't a sentimental person at the slightest, but even he could help feeling a pang of longingness remembering his life in Japan...

"I should have known that you couldn't help me..."

"Not reason to be so rude L Lawliet"

" Good night, Beyond Birthday"

Before L could step out the cell, Beyond stopped him "Lawliet, wait a sec"

To his surprise, L obeyed him " Why are so interested in the Kira case"

L turned to look at him like he was stupid. "You already know the answer to that question"

"Oh yes. You are justice, bla bla bla. Spare me of that crap. Let the bullshit for Interpol okay-ish?

Reclining on his chair, the serial killer continued " You never get involved in a case unless there were more than ten victims or a million dollars at stake. Not only Interpol must be paying the amount of money that could feed a small nation for a year in order to solve this case, but thousands of lives are at stake, even if those lives are criminals. Besides this a big mystery and you adore mysteries.

"You just answered you own question"

"Oh no, let me finish. What are you gonna do when you find Kira? L noticed Beyond using _when_ and not _if._

"Sentence him to death"

"But why? Because he is sentencing hundreds of criminals to death? You have done the same thing. You probably have a bigger body count that Kira does now."

"It's not the same thing. I only solve the cases after a meticulous investigation and the sentence of the convict is dictated accordingly to the laws of the country of said crime. I'm not playing judge, jury and executioner."

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that Kira is just doing a bloodier version of what you do."

"I think you are afraid of Kira" Beyond declared with a smile of triumph on his slighty charred lips.

L didn't gave him the satisfaction to react "I'm only being cautious of a criminal that kill people without being in contact with them, that's all"

" Humans are inherently more difficult than numbers. I think Einstein had a quote about that. That's why you are a detective and not a scientist right? Because you like the umpredictbale nature of criminals." "This is why you are afraid of Kira. Not just because he can kill you, or because you are left with no job, you have more money than most people could dream anyways. But you're afraid than Kira could win and you are going to be left without a mean to calm your ever present boredom, with no criminal element to satisfy your morbid fascination."

L stayed quiet and didn't changed his expression at all. The only thing that betrayed his perfect fachade were the scratching of his feet, that were also the only sound in the suddendly still room.

"Are you done?" replied in a bored tone.

"For now"

"So you _are_ done. I wasn't thinking on made visits to you a habit. Goodbye"

L left the room feeling more irritable than usual. Talking to Beyond always had that effect on him. L was invisible, a force to be reckoned and someone with a near perfect control of his emotion. But unfortunately for him, that meant little for Beyond, since they had know each other since childhood, who knew his real name and part of his real history. It's was easy to be impenetrable when no one knew anyhting about you, so they couldn't hurt you or blackmail you. It was that way that L could be sure that the monsters could never reach him.

He dialled Watari's number.

"L?"

"Watari, Call Interpol and let them know that I need Lind L. Taylor. We're going to made an announcement tomorrow"

"It's done. Anything else?"

"Yes, I need you to call the FBI to send at least a dozen of agents to Japan."

_"I'm going to move the pawns first"_

* * *

 

Covering herself in a pale pink bathrobe, Light quietly step down the stairs to the kitchen, where her father was sitting in the small round breakfast table with a cup of tea on his hand.

"It's almost midnight dad. Why are you still up?"

"Why are you still up?"

"I was watching a movie and I need to get a glass on water" Not exactly a lie, if you replace "Watching a movie" with "writing in the death Note" and "get a glass of water" for "get an apple for the Shinigami chanting about apples on my back"

"Dad, you look tired, Go to sleep." Her father chuckled "Well not all of us have the fortune to being 16 and having all the energies of the world."

She smiled and took the seat to his right "Dad, I believe that..."

"No."

"What?" her father usually wasn't so blunt with her.

"You are a smart girl Light. I know that you know that I'm working in a top- secret investigation. But It's too dangerous for you."

"But dad..."

"No, let me finish. Light I know you want to be a detective but you're so bright, you could do anything else. I know that once you reach age of majority I'm not going to have any say in you decisions, but for now, I want you to stay out of trouble OK?

Things didn't came her way.

"I understand dad. My bad. You know I'm a sucker for those cases." she amended with a apologetic smile that hid the fury she felt. She inmediately left the room to think.

Soichiro watched her leave and regretted being so blunt with her with her but he just didn't want her to be a cop. Soichiro wasn't sexist, but he knew how hard it was for women to work in the NPA, specially with Japan being such a patriarcal society. She could a scientist or a researcher, far less dangerous professions where she could get the recognition she deserved.

"What are you gonna do Light-o?" said Ryuk munching his apple. The shinigami had the nerve to look amused. Light sensed that he liked seeing thing not coming the way she wanted.

" I hate to admit but I can do anything but wait. L, whatever he or _she_ is, needs to made a move first"

"He or she?" Ryuk questioned.

"Yes. How I can I be sure that L is a male? L can be female as far as I know. I assumed he was male with him using a male decoy, but that doesn't mean a thing. I'm sure the Police assumes Kira is male. Most of the pro Kira sites assumes me to be a male. I'm not gonna do the same mistake."

Light slipped between the covers of her bed to sleep, under her Shinigami's unblinking stare.

Miles away, a detective was eating jelly bears and staring at his computer, preparing for tomorrow.

* * *

 

Beyond Birthday was drinking a jar of strawberry jam, of the ones that Lawliet had left earlier that day. He was thinking about Kira

_"Someone who can kill with just a name and a face "_

_"Has L's panties on a bunch"_

_"Kira is also in Japan"_

_"I wonder what Light thinks about Kira?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments!
> 
> I think I'm better writing Beyond than writing L
> 
> *Takayuki Ohigashi was the president of the Osho Food Service, His murder has never been solved. More information can be found here: https://listverse.com/2015/06/16/10-unsettling-japanese-murders-that-have-never-been-solved/
> 
> *Belladonna is a plant used in medicine, but it can also cause Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
> 
> * No one in the DN universe has the name Eichii. In the manga Light is show talking to a school friend called Yamamoto and another unnamed friend. Eichii is the name I decided to put on said unnamed character.
> 
> "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth* is a famous quote from Sherlock Holmes.
> 
> In this fic Beyond Birthday is in a "private" prison (details are going to be shared in later chapters) Never made much sense to me that L would just leave him in a regular prison with Beyond having so much information about him and Wammy House.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A detective gets even

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter. Thankfully, the rest of the next chapter is almost finished.
> 
> English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

"L, which is our plan of action?

The NPA's officers to the Kira's case were teering with excitement. This was _L_ they were working for. The legendary detective. With him at their side, no way Kira was getting away from them!

"Watari, please show them you list of criminals" said L's robotic voice.

The mand clad in black, better known as Watari passed them a list of 18 dangerous criminals.

  1.  Akira Sato
  2. Akio Sato
  3. Fujio Sato
  4. Gaku Ito
  5. Gin Nakamura
  6. Sota Mori
  7. Ryusei Abe
  8. Sosuke Ikeda
  9. Yusei Hashimoto
  10. Haru Yamashita
  11. Rento Ishikawa
  12. Itsuki Nakajima
  13.  TaiseiMaeda
  14. Shoma Fujita
  15.  Rikuto Ogawa
  16. Yuta Goto
  17. Taru Koraki
  18. Hisateru Kato



"I'm sure all of you recognize the first three names at the top of the list, don't you?"

"Of course. Those are the Sato Brothers, responsables of the brutal beatdown to death of a 13-year-old boy in 2001" Soichiro Yagami confirmed.

"Exactly, the Japanese Goverment passed custody of these men upon me"

"Now, with the exception of those three, the rest is a list of unknown criminals apprended in secret. No one outside of me, the ICPO and this small group of officers knows about them. These names are going to get broadcasted in a fake emergency news bulletin, created by us and the ICPO. If their names and faces get leaked before being broadcasted, I would know that Kira is someone within the NPA or with connections to it. "

"Broadcasted? But that's asking for Kira to kill them!"

"Detective Matsuda, please do not interrupt" L could see how this man was the youngest and probably less intelligent group of officers at this command. 

Matsuda, the asinine one, bashfully sat again. L continued.

"Yes, there is a strong possibility that Kira may kill them. In fact, we **need** those men to be killed, so we can know for sure that Kira will be watching our broadcast and be able to pinpoint Kira's location"

" But Matsuda is right, you are leading these men to their deaths, just to prove something" another officer, named Hideki Ide, interjected.

" This is the Kira's case we're talking about. Sacrifices need to be made. If you are not okay with it, that's fine, nobody is making you stay here. You may as well leave"

Most of the NPA had their jaws open at L's incredible rudeness.

"In fact, anybody who's not willing to do sacrifices in our quest to catch Kira can leave. We don't need cowardly detectives here"

"You asshole! We are here, putting our necks in the line, while you are sitting comfortably behind your computer, and you dare to call us cowards?" the man called Aizawa exploted.

"Aizawa!" Soichiro Yagami screamed, scandalized at Aizawa' language and bad manners, who usually was so proper.

"My apologizes Chief" Aizawa said bowing in apologize to his unprofessional behavior.

" I'm not sorry for my words. My mind is far more useful than my body and **your minds** could ever be, so me staying in the dark increases the probabilities to this case being solved with minimal losses"

"So we're human shields to you?"

A brief pause "If that's the way you see themselves, so be it..."

A large portion of the officers in the room, around 8 or so, got up in disgust and anger, leaving only around ten officers there.

"Where are you all going?"  Chief Yagami questioned.

"I'm sorry Chief, but we're not working under someone who see us as mere meat shields and guinea pigs to protect himself."

"Wait..." But his words fell in deaf ears, since  all of them abandoned the room. Soichiro was mad at them and at himself. True, L was incredible dismissive towards his men, but everybody at some point has worked under a difficult boss. Soichiro was willing to put with L's rudeness if it means they are going to put Kira behind bars, why couldn't they do the same?

Chief Yagami sighed "L, what's all that really necessary? Even you have to admit they have a point. Those men are going to get killed" 

"If everything goes according, they may be the last victims of Kira's wrath"

Soichiro sighed in surrender "So what's the plan?"

"As I already said, we're going to create a fake transmission about an equally fake prison break of the Sato Brothers. However, we are going to said a new criminal joined them, who also escaped with them, all with the aid of three accomplices outside of prison. The name of said criminal is going to variate of each region and....."

The faceless detective was feeling quite pleased at himself. He had a plan of action, and more important, his repelling actitude towards the NPA's agents got the expected results: drive away most of the Kira's Task Force, leaving them with a reduced group of the most dedicated detectives. The only officers now were Chief Yagami, Hideki Ide, Suichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Ukita, Touta Matsuda, Lise Sanami, Suke Yamanaka and Taro Takagi. The less, the merrier.

If only he could get rid of the idiot Matsuda too...

* * *

" _The Sato Brothers, the material and intellectual authors of the killing of Hasho Kitomi, back in 2001..."_ the red-headed reporter was declaring in front of the cameras, looking prim and serious.

Degenerates.

All of them.

Light was watching the emergency news bulletin announcing the prison break of one of the most famous, most sadistic group of killers in Japan's modern history. Her small hand was busy killling those men before they hurt anyone else.

" _According to official sources, they escaped with a criminal who joined their close-knitted group in prison and with the aid of 3 accomplices  who were already outside of prison, their names are going to be presented after these commercials..."_

No one gets away from Kira.

* * *

 "L, the NPA is calling, they are reporting that the Sato Brothers just died from heart attacks on their cells."

 _"So Kira is watching the Broadcast. Good, if he wasn't watching it this whole exercise would be a pointless affair."  "_ Excellent, now get to the next stage of our plan."

After the emergency news bulletin finished, Watari sent the results to L, who read them with a chesire smile on his face

_Gotcha._

* * *

Monday morning was lively in the Yagami's house. The smell of plain steamed rice and miso soup conquered the air. Sachiko was cleaning the kitchen, while Sayu and Light were consuming their breakfast. Both girls were thinking in their respective worries: Sayu was wondering if she made all her homeworks in the weekend and Light was thinking about all the criminals she had to judge, and what would be L's next move.

As if someone was reading her mind, the Detective Conan's episodes that passed on in the mornings (Light preferred to watch news but Sayu liked that anime) were interrupted by a new live in transmission of the ICPO. Lind L. Taylor's face adorned the screen.

"Hello people of the world. My name is Lind. L. Taylor, as you already may know" At the sound of his voice, Light's head got up so quickly that Ryuk thought she had snapped her own neck

"But I'm not the real detective L"

_What? I already knew that, but why is he saying all this. What kind of game he is playing?_

**"I am"** the image of Lind L Taylor was distorted until it was replaced by a gothic L and a creepy, robotic voice.

"Wow" Sayu whispered

" **The man before me, Lind L. Taylor, was a decoy employed by me. In reality, he was a convict. Did you knew that Kira?"**

_"Bastard, he is mocking me. He know that even if I knew that Taylor wasn't L, I still didn't know that he was a convict"_

_"_ **This information is classified, but me and the rest of the ICPO were already aware of this: Kira is in Japan"**

_"What!"_

_"_ **More specifically, the Kanto region of Japan"**

_"No way!"_

**"Now you may be wondering how I know all this Kira. Do you remember Kuro Otobarada? You know, the man who took hostage a nursery with kids and teachers? He was you first victim after all, the first victim who was killed by a heart attack. His crime was only reported in Japan."**

_"Damn"_

**"Do you also remember the emergency broadcasting the Sato Brothers' prison break this weekend?"**

_"No..."_

**"You see, that message was a hoax, created by the ICPO and the NPA to made appear like regular emergency news bulletin. The Sato Brothers never actually escaped from prison, it was all a farse."**

**"The message was transmitted in all the twelve regions of all Japan at the same time, with a small difference; the broadcast announced that the Sato Brothers' had a four member. The name and face of said criminal was DIFFERENT in each region."**

_"Man, this guy is good. Hyuk"_ Ryuk laughed. Light was too busy looking wide-eyed to the screen to pay him any attention.

 **"Even if you had gotten ahold of the names of the rest of criminals through the Internet, I would still be able to determine your location, based on**   **which was the first murdered criminal and in which region his name was announced. However, at the end of our broadcast, the only criminal  **who was killed was the one whose name was solely announced in the Kanto's broadcast, named Taru Koraki.**** **Therefore... I know you are currently living in Kanto, _Kira."_**

_"Oh. My. God"_

**"And the three accomplices who "supposedly" helped them to broke out of prison? While all of them were criminals too and their faces were showed in public; their names were changed for security reasons... None of them was killed."**

The images changed from the gothic L to three shirtless men, with both their hands and feet tied, and their face covered by masks who had gothic "L's" in them. They were the  "accomplices" of the fake emergency news bulletin

**"Come on Kira, kill them! If you really are justice, punish these men!"**

"The men appeared at the border to shat their pants, specially after an assistant with shades started to take off their masks, uncovering their terrified faces.

**" Now you see their faces, yet you still can't kill them? You need their names too, right?"**

_"Bastard"_

**"What's the matter? Can't you do it?"**

_"Shit"_

**"I already suspected, now I have proof: You need a face AND a name to kill, don't you Kira? Well, since you don't know their real names, I guess you can't really kill them. "**

_"I hate you"_

_"_ **Or me, for that matter"**

_"You have no idea how much I wish that"_

**" You know, I'm really intrigued on finding out how you manage to commit these murders without being present. But when I catch you, I'm going to have all the time of the world to satisfy my curiosity."**

_"Cocky son of bitch"_

**_"_  Last but no least; to all the  **People around the world who are praising Kira as a God, let me ask you a question: What kind of God needs a name and a face to kill?"****

And with that rethoric inquiry, a heavy sound of a mic dropping (put there for dramatic purposes, no doubt) was the last thing that was heard before the screen turned into static.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was basically a replacement for the Lind L Taylor scene in the second episode. Recommendation: Read this chapter hearing L's theme.
> 
> L dropped the mic, literally XD
> 
> The hardest/best part of this AU was looking for a way to L to still find out Kira's location, without making fem!Light look like an arrogant fool.
> 
> I sincerely hope the explanation of how L pinpointed Kira's location in this AU wasn't too convoluted or confusing. I will be happy to edit this if you find this chapter difficult to understand. If this chapter left you with more questions than answers, leave a comment with your query and I will be happy to respond.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One killer, one detective, and twelve agents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

"I have to leave"

 Sachiko looked up in surprise at her eldest daughter. But you haven't eat all your food"

 "After seeing these men tied like pigs, I lost all my appetite. I have to be early in school to finish the last group project of the year"

 Sachiko hummed in understanding. "Well at least take a fruit or something to eat while you go to school"

 Nodding absently, Light picked up an apple (Ryuk drooled) and she bid a half hearted goodbye. After the door closed behind her, she ran a few mteter until she reached a corner in the park near her home, punching a tree so hard that her knuckles bleed.

  "Damn L"

Ryuk laughed like he was in the circus. "Light-o that guy is good. I mean, he played you like a piano. What are you going to do about it?"

 Punching the tree a second time, leaving a splintering bloody dent on it, she breathed out "I don't know Ryuk, I don't know"

* * *

She shouldn't have go to school.

Everyone was talking about Kira and L.

Even Light's group, with whom she had to do the last class assignment of the year, currently were crowded around Yuri's laptop.

 

**"L's first Message for Kira" Youtube™**

**456 Comments**

**Cpt Rogers: That "L" tied people with rope and everything in live Tv. They are criminals, yeah, but is that even legal?**

**IwnnnTurds: That L isn't real and you guys are assholes for believing so.**

**Black Zeno-sama: Kira is justice. Fuck the haters**

**MadMaxFuriosa: Didn't anybody feels sorry for those guys tied there?**

 

"So that's what you guys were talking about? Kira?" Light asked innocently when she was getting close to them, even when she was damn aware what exactly they were talking about.

"Of course we are talking about Kira"

"Now we know that Kira has limitations." Shiori shyly stated.

Limitations. She never hated that word until now. Omnipotent Kira, no more.

"Limitations or not, Kira keeps such tight leash on the criminals now.Crime rates are dropping like flies"

"Very funny Yamamoto, but since the Police is viewing Kira's killings as homicides, the crime rates are actually gone up" Light snarked.

He waved that off "Whatever. The important thing is to know if Kira has superpowers or not"

"Kira must be a psychic"

"That's what I think too!" Yamamoto replied.

Eichii looked nervous " I sincerely hope not. That would mean he can read minds... I did some shoplifting back in grade school and I'm freaking out about it!"

"Hah, that's peanuts" Yamamoto chuckled

"You really think Kira would care about that?" Yuri laughed at Eichii too.

"So Light, what do you think about Kira?"

_"Unknowingly asking from the horse's mouth"_ "Kira really is something.... He seems to view the world as something in need to be fixed. He seems to have a philosophy about  how "the end justify the means". Truth is, that we don't know much about Kira, or how far he is willing to go in order to create his vision of a perfect world."

* * *

  _"All right L, you started"_

After giving a lot of thought to the subject, Light decided that she needed to find a way to get close to L, and kill him. L was too dangerous, she couldn't take of being caught. She needed to attack directly. After all, her hopes of keeping a low profile as Kira were totally dashed with that stunt he pulled with that fake emergency news bulletin. And the best way for her to get L's attention, was showing him that she could get information from the Police....

* * *

 "L, prisoners around all Japan had started dying" Chief Yagami' voice resonated in L's dark room.

_"He is making obvious the fact that he is connected to the Police. Why? Perhaps that's what he want us to believe. Maybe he just happens to be a skilled hacker and this is a way to send us into a dead lead?_

_"Regardless of what his intention are, one thing is clear: Kira is openly challenging me now. Interesting"_

* * *

 "Light! Hey Light!"

"Ryuk, I told you, don't talk to me in public. People are going to think of me as crazy, talking to the air"

"Fine. If you don't want to talk just listen. Look, I like you Light. I think the Death Note couldn't have picked up for a better person. But I'm not in your side or L's. I'm just a spectator. What you do with the Death Note is your business all alone"

"I already knew that"

"Well, what I'm going to tell you isn't because I want to help you, but because it's something that its really pissing me off. Someone is following you"

So she  _wasn't_  imagining things.

"I know he can't see me, but since I'm always following you, I'm under the impression he is watching my back"

she could have snorted at Ryuk's antics if she wasn't as worried of her stalker. When Light was younger, she used to have a stalker, she is not exactly new to this sort of thing. But what if this stalker has something to do with the Kira case. They already suspect her?

Probably not. While she already showed that Kira could be connected to the Police, Kira may be also a skilled hacker able to get into the NPA' secret files (she is both connected  _and_  a skilled hacker, but no one, not even her parents, knows about that ) So probably following her is more of a precaution that someone actually suspecting her. Besides, they still don't know if she is a student or not. While she tends to kill more in the evening and nights, since she carries Death Note's paper pieces sew to her clothes, her pattern of killings is still rather random. She was accostumed to being trailed around (Ryuk) but still, having a stalker is unnerving.

* * *

 "I have a question Ryuk" Light said while she was doing her ritual of brushing her hair before bed, just after fixing a date with Yamamoto tomorrow...

"What?"

"What do you when you want to kill a human but you don't know their name?"

"Hyuk, we Shinigamis don't  have that problem. We can see people's names by just looking at their faces.

"What?" " _He can see people's names by just looking at their faces, just like him!"_

"Impressive right? There is two difference between Shinigamis using a Death Note and a human using one. First, our lifespan increases everytime we kill someone, and second, by just looking at their faces, our eyes can see other people names and years of life.

"Ryuk, can a human be  **born**  with those eyes?

" **Born?**  No. Why?"

" I used to have a...foster brother. I found him on the streets. I haven't see him in a long time... He always told me that he was able to see people' names with just looking at their faces. I always thought he was teasing me. But now that you tell me this, now I know that he must be telling the truth. But he never mentioned Shinigami or meeting one."

"What was his name?"

"BB"

"And you have no idea where he is? I haven't see photos of him around the house.

"The lack of photos isn't coincidence... He lost contact with both my parents when he left. But even after that, he used to sent me letters. But after a while, he abruptly stopped."

The human and the Shinigami stayed in a silence for a few seconds, until Light continued.

"So, there must exist a way for a human to be born with those eyes"

"There is not way to be  **born**  with these eyes, as least to my knowledge. However, a human can get them too. 

"Really, there is a way for me to get those eyes?"

Ryuk's jumped in glee " Yeah, there it's one."

Ryuk got close to her, _too close,_ with his face mere inches apart from her own, and his bloodshot eyes were staring at the top of her head, like he wants something from her... And it's in that moment that  **it**  dawns to Light, that Ryuk isn't an adorable puppy or pet, he is a Shinigami, a God of Death, someone who has everyone's life, including  _hers_ , in his hands.

"I have no idea how your brother got these eyes without making contact with a Shinigami first" Ryuk continues theatrically, his hot breath hitting Light's face "But the only way I know how to get the Shinigami Eyes, is making a pact, a pact that has existed for centuries, but it comes with a heavy price"

"And the price is?"

Ruk's razor smiles widens a bit more.

**"The half of your remaining lifespan"**

" The half of my lifespan?"

" Yeah. It means that if you have 60 years of life counting since now, you are going to give 30. If you have 5 years, you're going to give 2 years and six months"

" You are not going lend me your powers, so I have to pay for them right? With those eyes, the Death Note would be so much easier to use" Light mused aloud.

"So...what do you say Light? Close the deal?"

Light smiled  **"Not a chance"**

"Uh?"

"Ryuk, I want to make the world a better place, and that's going to be a long road. I need all the time in my hands to reach that goal"

"Fine. Don't complain later that I didn't tell you" the Shinigami retorted petuntantly, hopping in her bed.

Light dropped her eyes. Now she knows that she has to be careful with Ryuk. He had made quite clear that he isn't on her side, and while Light doesn't care too much for that, she wasn't sure that the Shinigami couldn't do something to prejudice her just for his amusement.

She shrugged and started to change in her lumberjack pajamas right there. The first days Ryuk always used to get out of her bedroom by his own volition, whethever she was changing clothes, but lately he started to lung around her bed in those moments and just responds with "Rule 36. We shinigamis are not interested in that sort of thing" So he stays and doesn't take his eyes off from her. She was a bit uncomfortable at the beginning,in fact she  _still_  is,but now it's a little more bearable. Light fell asleep almost at the same time her head hit the pillow.

_"She is cautious of me, but she ain't scared of me. Not afraid to give a hard time"_ Ryuk thought as he saw Light's breathing even out. He sure had found an interesting human to play with, didn't he?

It was a shame that she was human and not shinigami. The Shinigami Realm was a grey, esteril place, so different ot he human world, it sure could use someone like her. He supposes it has something to do with their mortality, or in his case the lack of it. The human world is built in the hopes to being remembered after death.

Too much thinking. He needs an apple.

* * *

"What are we doing here" Ryuk asked for the fourth time since they got out the house.

Lighr just rolled her eyes for the fourth time "You'll see"

Light walked down to Musashi-Kosugi's train station, keeping a discreet eye on her stalker.

"Hey Light!"

It was Yamamoto, waving at her with entusiasm. Yamamoto was kind of average as far as looks go, but she could see he had clean up nicely for the occasion. 

"Hi. How long have you been waiting for me?"

"Don't worry, I had been here for just ten minutes or so"

"Good, and you already had the tickets for Spaceland right?"

"Of course" he waved two tickets in front of her eyes " I have to be honest Light, I didn't think Spaceland was your sort thing. The only time we went you complianed about how noisy it was due to so many kids and something abouth "the marketing of science" And I thought you weren't thinking in dating until the exams' period passed."

"Spaceland is something to chill and not think too much. And about the dating...well.. I never said anything about not going out with  ** _friends._**

_"Hyuk, you friendzoned him hard"_  Wait, how did Ryuk knew  about the "friendzone"

The boy' smile fell a little at the "friend" bid, but he stayed firm. He liked Light, _a lot,_ and he really wanted to get back together with her. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing...

What Light  _truly_  was thinking was what agency L used to track her dowm. CIA, FBI, Mossad? Private investigators?

The teenagers sat in the penultimate seat on the bus, while Light's stalker sat in the last. 

After 20 minutes, the doors of the bus opened and a umkept man with a gun got up inside it.

"EVERYBODY! STAY IN YOU SEATS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

_"Finally"_

Yamamoto was scared out of his wits, he was sweating bullets and looked about to faint, but he embraced Light in a phony show to appear collected. He felt something nudging him side and looked down to a note in Light's hands: " _I can distract him and both of us can take his gun"_

"Don't act rashly. If comes to something, I will take not gun, not you." the man behind them whispered after reading Light's note too.

"And how do we know that you're not an accomplice?"

"Yamamoto stammered "An accomplice?"

"Yeah. I had read about this. One perpetrator keeps the victims under control with threats, while the other pretends to be one of the hostages"

Raye was prepared for this though " My name is  **Hideo Furugawa"**

Light shooked her head   _"His name...That's not enough for me"_

"And how can we be sure than that's your real name and not a fake one?" " _If he is part of some law enforcement or intelligence agency , besides his civilian ID, he must carry another ID with his name and the name of the agency he belongs to"_

_"No way I'm showing my FBI ID to a Kira suspect, even if I'm positive that Light is not Kira."_ Raye thought, even if he knew that she was saying was true. However, Raye obviously had a fake FBI badge, that would be enough to make her trust him....

" _But nobody can know that the FBI is in Japan. I don't have a fake civilian ID with me and we are trailing the NPA' high officers and their families. What if Light Yagami tells her father and our operation gets discovered because of it?_

"I can tell you nothing about me or show you my ID. I'm sorry but you have to trust in my word alone"

What? He wasn't going to tell her his name? She was sure that he was going to fall for her damsel in distress act!

Now, she needed to think of the fly.

_"What am I supossed to do now?"_

_"Think"_

_"Think"_

_"Think"_

_"I...I think got it"_

Light kidnapped Yamamoto' arm and stared to tremble uncontrollably. Time to raise the act up to eleven.

"Light, calm down" Yamamoto said , petting her long hair in an attempt to appease her.

" **I saw you.** A few meters behind me, when I was getting to the station. You're his accomplice, aren't you?" she accused Raye.

Light's trembling only got worse and she started to write on her own hand.

_"_ Light, what are you doing?"

Light just breathed more heavily, feigning having an attack of nerves. She needed to get Osoreda' attention.

"Hey you, what are you writing?"

Raye cursed  _"He caught us"_

"Let me see!" he said roughly grabbing Light's hand and reading what was in it:  _"I think I can take off his gun alone. If you can't, I will"_

_"_ I think I can take off his gun" Osoreda read aloud "LOOK WE HAVE A HEROINE HERE! Come on baby, stand up for daddy, Let me take a good look on you"

Relunctantly she stood up to be eye to eye level with him, and the criminal smiled at her and caressed her face...

...And without warning, Light was thrown to the back of the bus, due to the pain produced by Osoreda, who impromptu pistol whipped her with all his strenght.

"Light!" Yamamoto cried out

"Don't move kiddo. Your squeeze is fine, her lights are out, that's all"  Osoreda said, laughing at his own lame pun. Osreda didn't know it, but Light was awake. She specified that Osoreda wasn't going to kill anyone in the bus, but she didn't specific that he wouldn't use brutal force in the bus hijacking, that's why her idea worked. She was furious at that criminal hitting her, but she was happy knowing that he was going to die in a few minutes...

Although Light knew that Osoreda wasn't going to kill anybody, the same couldn't be said about the rest of people in the bus, who were trembling in fear after witnessing that criminal's violence.

"PLEASE, DON'T HURT US!" a woman almost at the border of a breakdown screamed

"SHUT UP! YOU WANT ME TO SHOOT YOU?"

_"I need to interfere, I don't want to, but at this rate, he is going to kill someone"_  "Everybody head down!"

"What?" Osoreda said confused, turning around just in time for Raye to point his gun at him.

"Drop you gun" the FBI agent firmly said.

"Come on man!"

"I said drop your gun"

Seeing the situation was out of his hands, for once, Osoreda took the smart choice and flew out of the bus. Raye followed him, but in that moment.....

_Shriieeek!!!!_

A collision between two cars ocurred in the street, and Osoreda _just_ happened to be in the middle of it. His body was laid in the ground, pooling the street with his blood. People inside the bus were quiet as a mouse, probably in shock of seeing their former kidnapper now dead.

Yamamoto ran to Light' side, attempting to wake her up. Light pretended to woke up, allowing Yamamoto to carry her bridal style out of the bus.

"Light , are you OK? I can take you to your house if you want" he said, hiding the dissapointment of having their date (friends' date, normal date, it was the same thing) ruined.

"That's would be the best. Thank You"

 He had just finished accommodating Light in the back of the cab and closing the door of it, when he saw the man of the bus making getting close to him.

"Yamamoto right?"

"Yes Sir"

Raye gestured towards the car. "Take care of your girl. Girls need to be taken care of...Look, I want to apologize, for the whole thing back there"

"It's OK. You tried to save us. If you want to apologize to anybody, apologize to Light. She really freaked out when you refused to show us your ID. She wasn't awake for the time you stepped up to save us from that madman. I fact, I'm goign to tell her that you sa..." Raye shut him up grabbing his arm in a tigh grip before he could open the cab's door and talk to Light.

**"Stop.** Look kid, you seem trustworthy and everything, so I'm going to tell you something, I'm an undercover agent. Hideo Furugawa isn't even my real name"

Yamamoto's eyes widened

"I'm not dangerous to you or your girlfriend, but this information needs to stay between the two of us. Don't tell this to your girlfriend, nothing. In fact, don't tell this to anyone. Got it?"

"Got it" And with that, the man dissapeared.

Light wasn't sleeping in the back of the cab as Yamamoto thought, but intently listening his and that man's conversation. Great.  An undercover agent. She already knew that. Useless information. And Hideo Furugawa wasn't his real name. However, before that agent got away, Light managed to take a picture of him with her cellphone.

* * *

 A few hours later, in the privacy of her own room, Light was examining the photo on her hands.

"You know, with the Shinigamis' eyes, you could kill him"

Light scowled. Her original plan was that he showed her his ID, wait a few days before sending a public message as Kira, announcing that L secretly had sent foreign agents to Japan,  manipulate the agent trailing her so a) he wouldn't say a thing about showing her his ID, and B)  he also would gave her the names of the rest of the agents. Then kill all of them. Light hated the idea of killing innocent people but she knew that a few sacrifices need to be made for the world she wanted to built.

The door of her room opened with a "tuff" sound.

"Sayu!" 

"Light, are you Ok? Mom told me what happened"

To explain her punch, Light invented an excuse about falling down the stairs when she was in the bus station (corroborated by Yamamoto) 

"I'm fine"

Sayu, nosy as she was, looked at the photo loosely held in Light's fingers and grabbed it

"Hey, he is a hottie"

Light almost got worried at Sayu seeing that man's photo but she remembered that no way that Sayu would recognize him.

Life always had a funny way to prove her wrong.

"Hey, I think I  **saw** him once"

_"Come again?"_

_"_ When?"

"Uh, a few days I think? He was near my school. I htought he was a father or something."

" And how did he caught your attention?"

"Duuuuh, he was the only one wearing a trenchcoat. It was very noticeable"

_"If I play this right, I can keep my cake and eat it too"_

_"_ Sayu, I don't want to alarm you. But I think this man is a stalker"

 Her sister blanched "A stalker?"

"Yes. He was following me and Yamamoto in our trip to Spaceland. He was following  _you_."

"Hey, how do you know that he was following me?"

"You think it's coincidence that he was in the same places both you and I frequent?

" _Of course it wasn't. If L sent agents to investigate people connected to the NPA, that includes me, Sayu and possible mom too"_

" We should tell Dad"

_"_ No!"  _"Let me think in a plan first!"_ "No yet. Let me think in a way to tell him without worry him too much"

"But what if that man gets to us first? don't you think that...?

"Sayu, don't worry. Tomorrow I'm going to have an idea."

Seemed like Light had a God at her side, and not just a God of Death.

* * *

Dutiful daughter as she was, Sachiko didn't doubt a sec when Light told her that she was going to the Police Station to give her father a change of clothes, with Sayu accompaining her.

The recepcionist warmly greeted both girls, but quickly got serious when the girls asked for their dad because they needed to talk to him alone.

"Light, Sayu, what are you doing here?" their dad asked them with concern.

Sayu nudged Light "Light, I think we should tell him now"

Light sighed "A man is following both me and Sayu Dad"

"What? Are you sure Light?"

"Yes, in fact I have a photo of him. Not a good one, but it's better that anything"

Soichiro inspected the photo with a detective eye.

" When did you saw him Sayu?"

"A few days ago, when I was walking from school to home"

"And you Light?"

_"I have to tell him the truth, if I don't that only would make me look suspicious_  "In the bus jacking when me and Yamamoto were going to Spaceland"

Soichiro was astonished. _"What busjacking?"_   "A bus jacking?" 

" Yes, it was there when this" she pointed to her still bruised cheekbone "happened to me"

"Wait, you said that bruise was because you fell to the stairs!"

"I know, I'm sorry! I didn't want to worry any of you. That's why I didn't tell anything"

"I appreciate the thought Light but my job is to worry about you. Never hide something this big from us. Never."

_"If you only knew"_

"Now, I'm intrigued about this bus jacking. We don't any information about that"

_Since that man was working in secret for L, it makes sense  that whatever agency he is from covered up the incident in order to keep secret the identity of one of his agents"_

"Could you provide us with information about the incident Light? What time it happened? In what bus station? Any information about that would be useful for us.

_"My pleasure"_   "Yes, it was in the bus that got off at 9:00 AM yesterday, on Musashi Kosugo' station..."

* * *

  _A week later_

After Raye Penber finished his investigation in the Yagami Family, absolving them from suspicion, he started in the Kitamura family. They were a normal family composed by  Kitamura-San, his wife, and a daughter around the same age of the Yagami girls.

Raye was bored. None of the suspects he was in charge of the investigation looked remotely suspicious. Naomi tried to help him and give him her input, but he inmediately put his foot down. She wasn't a FBI agent anymore, now she was his fiance and the mother of his future children. She no longer had any business in dangerous things, specially as dangerous as the Kira case.

 "Sir, may you accompany us?"

Startled, Raye find himself sandwiched between two NPA bulky officers "Where?

"To the Police "

_"The Police?"_

"I believe I have done nothing that merits to do so"

"Sir, We have our reasons to do this. Your picture is vinculated to a formal complaint about stalking from two minors. If you refuse to accompain us, we are led to believe you're hiding something and we are going take bigger measurements to get your cooperation"

_"I have no choice. Accompaining them would mean the ruin of Kira case's investigation. But if I don't accompain them, things would get very ugly and still ruin the Kira case's investigation_ "

"Fine"

Then Raye Penber was holed up inside a Police car, towards the nearest NPA station.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Light is a sneaky bitch, isn't she?
> 
> This fic is set in present time (unlike canon DN, set in the early 2000's) But I'm not going to mention precise dates in order to keep the timeline ambiguous and timeless.
> 
> Even if Light manipulated Raye via DN so he wouldn't mentioned a thing about the bus hijacking in his reports, it always struck me as odd the fact that the incident was never mentioned again. It was a bus hijacking, with many witnesses (including Light' date), at the light of the day and perpetrated by a well-known criminal. No way that the Police, specially in a country with such a low-crime rate as Japan, didn't have any records about it. When Naomi was investigating her fiance's death, she went to the Bus station, not the Police. Probably it was because she knew Kira was getting information from the Police, but since no one, no even L, mentioned the bus hijacking ever again, I always assumed that, somehow, the FBI covered up the whole incident so the NPA wouldn't find out that the investigation was upon them.
> 
> I also made Raye smarter than canon (he still is a sexist chauvinist though) I mean, showing you FBI ID to a suspect you're trailing is recklessness. Showing it to someone who is under suspicion of being KIRA is plain stupidity. It took five years in the DN universe for the FBI to smart up and get fake ID to its agents. So here Raye had a fake FBI badge too, but he didn't still show it to fem!Light, because even if Light wasn't a criminal and wasn't Kira, let her know that he was FBI was still too risky since the FBI was investigating the NPA in secret and also because the FBI has no jurisdiction in Japan


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A detective marchs towards the light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terrible, terrible chapter.  
> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

L always had a thing for bright colors. But not even Tokyo's lights could distract him from the ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach, product of his failure...

The whole operation with the FBI was ruined, thanks to an incompetent agent....

And now he was waiting for the few remaining members of the Kira Task Force to come to his hotel room.

Watari interrupted his thoughts.

"L, the Task Force is already here" 

"Let them in"

* * *

_36 hours before_

"I swear this is just a misunderstanding"

Ray Penber couldn't believe how bad things were getting. Apparently his photo was vinculated to a formal complaint about stalking from two minors. At the beginning he thought he could make up some bullshit and get away with it, but since his photo fell in the Police's hands, they tracked down him for a day before intercepting him.. and they watched him spying in Kitamura's young daughter. No way to get away from that.

* * *

"What does he say?" Soichiro Yagami asked to the young officer in charge of the interrogation.

"Nothing of importance. Apparently his name is Hideo Furugawa, he is 36 years old, born in the US, in NY to be exact, from Japanese mother and American father, and apparently he works as a computer tech." the officer said while handling the papers to Soichiro Yagami.

_"Born in the US? So he is an american? If he truly is then that makes things so much easier. He must be part of some organization like the CIA or FBI..."_

"Can you hear what they are saying Ane?" Sayu asked. Both  of them had their ears stuck against the door.

"Shhh!" 

"Okay, Okay"

Light reasumed her position: bending, with her ear against the door. One of the peers of being the daughter of one of the most respected and loved NPA's high ranking officers, was that the people didn't pay much attention to you if you were meddling around the Police Station.

"Light!" a cheerful male voice interrupted her again.

 _"Damn"_ "Hello Matsuda-san"

"Don't call me that. Just Matsuda is fine... Ehh, what are you doing. You were hearing outside the doors?"

What an idiot. What _else_ she could have been doing?  "Yes... I'm so sorry. It's just that I wanted to know who was that man. My sister and I were so scared..."

"No, it's fine. I mean, sometimes I do the same thing when I'm bored..."

"Why would you need to earsdrop when  you're an officer yourself" Sayu curiously asked.

"Well..."

Light was getting tired of this man, but he could be useful "You don't have to explain anything to us. But I would like this" she said gesturing to the door and herself  "to stay between us. Please?"

"Sure" Matsuda agreed with a dumbass smile.

* * *

 "What's going on Dad? Light asked when her father got out the room. He looked at her with a sad expression.

"Light, this man is clean. His identification papers are in order: ID, passport, passport card*, IDP, birth certificate. We even called the US embassy to confirm if "Hideo Furugawa" is not a phony name, and everything fits. I'm sorry but there it's not a lot we can do with this.

_"If the US is behind this, it makes sense they are providing fake identities to their agents in complicity with the US embassy and some federal goverments*"_

_"_ Well, what about the bus jacking? No way that was a mere coincidence."

"What if it was?"

"What?"

"Light, just because you _think_ that man had something to do with that, doesn't mean he actually did. Case in point, you were there too and you had nothing to do with it."

Light nearly laughed at her father's ignorance.

"Well, at least just interrogate him about it. 'Kay?

* * *

 "What about the bus jacking"

"What?

"The busjacking that happened in the morning of the Saturday 15th, 9:00 AM, Musashi Kosugi' station"

Ray closed the eyes. Aside the twelve FBI agents, the FBI also had sent a small team of forensic scientists. Since all of them were of Japanese ascentry (to avoid suspicion) and with the help of one Nicola Nasberg (one of the twelve agents sent to Japan ) who was nearby, they managed to impersonate NPA officers, taking notes from the witnesses and cleaning up the crime scene before the NPA could get a wind of it. It wouldn't do any good to them if the NPA discovered that the investigation was upon them, not to mention the scandal and diplomatic disaster that would occur between Japan and USA if everything come to the public eye.

"I was in that busjacking, but I have nothing to do with it, if that is what you're insinuating" Well, that part was true.

* * *

 "Any ideas Light?" Chief Yagami asked rubbing a hand through his face.

_"Yes, I'm Kira and I'm paranoid about some agents following around"_

"None dad"

"Well, in that case I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do"

Light closed the eyes. And suddenly smiled, with her eyes still closed.

"Dad, Yamamoto was with me when the busjacking happened, and he _talked_ to that man. We can call him to testify, anonymously of course" 

* * *

"I swear, the shoplifting was done by Eichii, not me! I was just accompaining him! We were in grade school, for fuck's sake!

The officer barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. " Yes, we are going to get to that later. Look, Yamamoto-kun, we didn't cite you here to talk about your juvenile shoplifting. We cited you here to talk about the busjacking in Saturday 15th, the one you were present."

If the officer thought that would make Yamamoto calmer, he was sorely mistaken "What? The bus jacking?"

"Yes. Do you know this man?" the officer said handling to him Raye Penber's photo.

 _"This is the undercover agent"_   "No.. I don't know this man"

"Are you sure?"

"...Yes.."

"That's strange because we have information that you actually talked with this man"

_"Shit"_

"So you may reconsider your answer"

"Ehh..."

"Don't worry, take your time. But keep in mind, that you can get in some serious problem if you purposely ommit information from us"

Yamamoto keep silent a few moments until he finally decided to talk "...Look, yes, I lied. I talked to this man, he said that he was an... undercover agent"

The officer's eyes widened "An undercover agent?"

"Yes, Sir"

" From where?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask"

"That's all you know?"

the boy sighed "That's all."

"Well, thank you for you collaboration, Yamamoto-kun"

* * *

 "You are an undercover agent. From where?

"What?" Raye asked startled. _How can they know that?_

"Answer the question Sir"

"I have no idea what you are talking about"

A strong slap was brought to Penber's face, and some blood spilled from his lips.

"Look _Cheese Nip*,_ this is not America. We don't condone criminals as you guys do. We can sentence you right here for stalking and covering up a crime.

Raye didn't know how to proceed. Call the FBI for help? But that would only get the Kira investigation discovered! And that was in the best of cases, at worse the FBI would just  let him to his own luck, since he didn't believe they would risk the Kira investigation just to favor one lousy detective. But on the other matter, he didn't want to spend years inside a prison.  He supposed that being half Japanese was doing him a bit of a favor, but he still was a foreigner. Japanese prisons were brutal, even more so for a foreigner. And Naomi...

His life, or the Kira investigation?

The decision was obvious.

"My name is Raye Penber, and I'm part of the FBI..."

* * *

 "The FBI!"

 _"The FBI!"_ Light thought, still positioned with her ear against the door, that separated her from the room where the main detectives of the NPA were talking.

"What are you talking about Chief?" a detective called Aizawa asked.

"The man we were interrogating is part of the FBI. He is also part of a secret investigatigation concerning the Kira case."

"I don't get it. If they want to investigate Kira, they could have just asked for an alliance between them and us"

"The FBI was investigating the NPA" Chief Yagami grimly stated.

Murmurs of anger and shock boomed across the room

"What?"

"Why?"

"It was done under L's orders. Apparently he believes that Kira is connected with the NPA, and he send the FBI to investigate if Kira was within the NPA or our families"

" I can't believe it!"

"I knew we should have never trusted him"

And the Task Force was reduced for a dozen of detectives to a half dozen.

* * *

_Today_

The twelve FBI and their families got back to USA, quietly to avoid an international scandal. And L was in the dog house with both countries.

Since the few remaining officer inside the Kira Task Force were unwilling to work with him if he didn't make a compromise with them, he now was in front of them.

They looked so surprised at his appearance and his mannerisms. What were they expecting? Superman? They were looking at him like he was a freak but L didn't care.

L appreciated their bravery to stay for the Kira case, but aside from Soichiro Yagami and Mogi, the rest of the Task Force didn't impress him...He needed someone more to his own level.

Hopefully Watari still keep around Naomi Misora's number.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments.
> 
> *Cheese Nip is a racial slur used for Japaneses to refer to someone of a mixed White/Japanese ancestry.  
> *Passport Card is a national identity card and limited travel document produced in the United States.  
> *Federal Goverments in the USA provide a patchwork of documents to identifice their citizens, since the US is a federal republic without a true national identity card.
> 
> Another poll for the audience: Keep Misa with her canon gender (female) or do I invert her gender too?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hotel room and a dance floor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad chapter.
> 
> Not a native English speaker, so feel free to point out any mistakes

_Two weeks after the FBI retires from Japan_

 "We are going to Miyako Island at the end of this week."

 Light was in good mood. After the NPA discovered the covert operation that the FBI had in Japan, the agents were released back to the United States immediately. Mad as they were, that he was in the NPA with the FBI, that they would not get any information about how they reached the FBI agents. The "official explanation" said that"some members of the families of the NPA agents had discovered the agents by themselves" It was not exactly a lie.

 According to the (secret) information that fool Matsuda gave her, the explanation does not include names. And since only the Task Force learned of such an incident, it was highly unlikely that they would give the FBI information about the relatives of the NPA agents who "incidentally" discovered the FBI.

Of course, that did not mean Light was out of danger. Even if the Task Force did not give any information or names to the FBI, it was very likely that they could give tell L the actual facts. Or at least her father would. But even in that case, that did not contradict the "official explanation" at all, and it didn't prove anything against Light, except perhaps her great powers of observation. In addition, Sayu being of the middle of it acted as an insurance for her.

 And hey, wasn't that what Light wanted? Get closer to L to eliminate him?

 Right now, Light's entire class was debating what would be the tourist destination they would go to as a senior farewell party. Since most of them came from well-off, upper-middle class families, most of them wanted to go outside the country, but in the end it was decided that the trip would take place within Japan, to Miyako Island, since an Indie Music Festival was going to take place there in the next weekend, and they managed to convince some of the invited artist to animate their party.

 What a pain. Now she had to go to her house and pack her bags. She almost declined the invitation, thinking that she would rather prefer stay at home, judging some criminals, but she was still going to do  **that**  whatever the place they were (Kira could not take vacations) and she supposed that a week outside the suffocating environment of her house, without her father unknowingly chasing her tail, would not be so bad.

* * *

 "This is L" an electronic, robotic voice said from her computer.

 _"Who else could be?"_ Naomi thought. She got close to her laptop and picked up the microphone

"L. Long time not seeing you"

Naomi almost slapped herself at the stupidity of her statement.

L seemed to not notice "Naomi Misora, the last and only time we worked together was in the BB case, back in Los Angeles, almost three years ago. Right now I'm working in the Kira case. I'm already  working with the Task Force composed by NPA officers, and I would like you to be part of it"

Working for L once (for him, because when it's L the one you are talking about, you never work with him, you work _for_  him) was a timeline offer. Two times was a dream come true, the kinds of dream born from fever and delirating mental states.

"L, I'm so honored by the offer but I'm still unsure about taking the offer. Can you give a time to think about it?"

A pause "A week would suffice?"

Naomi smiled. Who knew L could be so understanding? "Yes, it's more than enough"

"Al right. I will contact you again seven days from now to receive your answer. And as you may remember, you have to destroy this device inmediately this conversation has finished.

The screen turned blank and Naomi sighed while she was crashing her laptop against the ground. God, it was an expensive new Alienware.

The crash only resonated loudly due to the silence in the room

* * *

  _Two weeks before_

_"Raye Penber, you are suspended for indefinite time from service"_

The FBI didn' have any proof that Raye was at fault that the NPA discoverered their secret investigation, but they spoke with the forensices team they sent to Japan and they spilled the beans about the busjacking incident. They  needed someone to point fingers  for, so Raye was suspended for indefinite time as soon as he stepped down American soil.

Naomi tried to cheer him up, telling him how it wasn't the end of the world, how she was in the exact same situation, how she was in the lowest point of her career before L contacted her for the BB case, but her intents fell in deaf ears.

The more hopeless she became, the loudest their discussions became. Their conversations turned into fights.

A week after their comeback to the US, Raye returned very late and drunk. Naomi lashed out then, telling him how he should stop feeling sorry for himself, tht he was pathetic... She wasn't proud of all the things she said. Raye lashed out too and the discussion turned into a horrible fight. Raye left for three days then, leaving Naomi alone in their shared apartment. The relationship became so tense in such a short time, it had been only two weeks but seemed like months.

* * *

  _Present Time_

L's call to her was like water found in the dessert, she was glad of something else occupying her thoughts other than the future of her and Raye's relationship. She wanted to leave. When Raye proposed to her and told her that she needed to left the FBI to become a housewife, it seemed like the best idea of the time. And still was, Naomi wanted everything: a dutiful husband, a white-fence picket, a large yard, two children and a dog. But she missed being a investigator too. the thrill of discovering clues, the blood pumping her veins every time she was chasing a criminal, the adrenaline that could make her staying nights awake with just cofee. She missed that.

Leaving in order to follow L in a mad chase against Kira... as exciting as that sounded, it felt like a betrayal to Raye. She couldn't do that. 

"Naomi, what's up with that pieces of your computer in the floor"

"L contacted me"

"L contacted you?"

"Yes. Apparently he asembled a teams of investigators to the Kira investigation. He wanted me to be part of it"

"And you accepted?

"No I didn't"

"Good, I do not want anything bad to happen to you."

" I was tempted you know. Kira is the one to blame for your situation now. Who knows, maybe we can ...

"Naomi, how many times do I have to tell you that you are not FBI anymore? Accept it. You are my fiancee now. Dangerous things like Kira are not your business anymore!"

At another time Naomi might have sucked it up, but the tension of the last few days, as well as his careless abandonment of her for days without being able to deign himself to give her a call, finally exploded.

"Of course it's my damn business! Is that what you tell yourself? How hard it's for you to accept I want to help you? I'm going to be your wife Raye! Needing my help isn't a handicap as you seem to think!"

"What you want is to eclipse me!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yes. You want to rub in my face how you work with L! When I couldn't even successfully spy in a pair of teens!

"You're, you... God, I don't even know what to say! It's that what you really think? That I want to eclipse you?" How selfish you think me to be?

Raye seemed to finally came to his senses , and his balsing eyes turned more languid "Naomi, Look I.."

But Naomi was relentless " Wait, when you told me to quit the FBI,  that was the real reason? You didn't want to became eclpipsed by your wife. Not the whole "I want you to be safe"

"Of course I want you to be safe. It's just... "

"What? " Naomi couldn't keep her strong face anymore, tears of anger and sadness were freely dropping from her eyes "What? What are you going to tell me?" Naomi wasn't yelling anymore, her strong demanor vanished to give space to a crying mess of a woman.

"Naomi..." Raye sighed involving her in his arms.

It worked for a moment, until Naomi regained her thoughts and mustered some of her anger back "LET GO OF ME!" and without giving him time to react, she ran back to her room.

"Naomi, babe, I'm sorry. Naomi, babe open the door" Raye said banging the door.

The banging lasted for a hour until it stopped. While Naomi kept crying, her lips tasting the salty tears and the others drying on her pillow.

* * *

"Hey Light! Want to come?" a slighty tipsy Yamamoto asked her on her way to the terrace.  _"Too early to be drinking already"_

"Where?"

"To some people involved in our party and the Indie Music Concert"

The Breezebay Marina hotel gave Light a spectacular view, and she felt like staying in the hotel terrace with a book for a few hours, before seeking some private place to see if she could kill some lowlives ( not the hotel, given the  camaras in the rooms and all that) But Yamamoto was very persistent when he wanted it, so she followed him to the lobby where a boy and a girl in their late teens or early twenties were waiting for them.

"Light, this is Hiroshi Miyamori, the head backup dancer in Hideki Ryuga's concerts. He is in the initial and final choreography of the Indie Music Festival"

" _Konnichiwa_ , and nice to meet you"

"And this is Misa Amane, a new model and upcoming cover girl for Eighteen"

" _Konnichiwa_  to you too"

The blonde just stared at her with eyes as wide as saucers

* * *

 "You're L?" Naomi screeched almost histerically.

"Yes, I'm L"

Unlike the rest of the Task Force, Naomi's surprise at seeing L didn't come from L looking like an overworked college kid, but from seeing how alike him and Beyond were. It was super creepy.

"My likeness to Beyond may be scaring you, am I right? In any case, you may be in peace Misora. Beyond used many artifical methods to look like me. We don't actually look alike, and we don't any kind of blood relation."

That may have calmed down, if wasn't because it dawned to her that he had seen him before. The man in the train station"

"You are him, the creepy stalker who jumped on me in that train station!"

The Task Force gasped at her gall of call L a creep.

L put his thumb on his lips "Yes, that man was me. However, I was not stalking you. I merely wanted to thank you for your hard work on  _Wara Ningyo*_  case."

Naomi wanted to scream at him. What kind of crazy person decided to just randomly jump at people, to "thank them"? Although it's not like he could just came to her and present himself as L.

"Ok, I'm sorry for yelling." she said with gritted teeth.

"It's fine. Now that we are complete, we finally can start our investigation"

"Start? You haven't already an invesgation going?

"Nope, L decided to give us some time to settle our minds, since from now, we have to be dedicated to this investigation" Matsuda said smiling.

Naomi raised her eyebrows. L wasn't the type to give people "time to settle their minds" When she worked for him, he called her erratically, needing her to be almost 24/7 at his disposal. She turned to L with a question in her eyes but he ignored her.

Wait a sec. Ryuzaki?

"Wait, did he just called you Ryuzaki?"

L was going to answer but Matsuda interrupted him "Yep, Ryuzaki decided that for security reasons, we should address ourselves with aliases. I'm Matsuda and my alias is Matsui, this is Aizawa and his alias is.."

Aizawa shut him up with a death glare, and turned his attention to Naomi and L "So, she is the investigator we were waiting for"

"Yes. Before we start Misora, I want to thank you for coming, I wasn't sure you would accept my offer, since I'm aware you quit the FBI some time ago"

Naomi gave him a bitter smile, remembering the events previous to her coming back to Japan

Flashback

_Asuka Penber was a quite smart and no nonsense woman. A woman Naomi would be proud to call  her mother in law" . After her and Raye's fight, she called her to tell her about their situation._

_Right now both of them were sipping tea in the breakfast table, with Raye soundly sleeping in the guest room. Naomi told her that she needed advice about their realtionship and the job offer (although of course Naomi omitted saying anything about Kira or L) Despite being Raye's mother, she was unbiased and told her that both need distance from each other, and that she should accept the job offer, and if Ray truly loved her, he should accept and respect her decision._

_"I'm not breaking up with him. I don't **want**  to break up with him As cliche as this may sound, we may just need a break"_

_"I undertands. I assume that you want me to spill the news to him? I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm not doing it. Your relationship, your duty"_

 End Flashback

Since Asuka denied her request, she left him a letter. Probably leaving a letter was stupid and immature on her part, but she really didn't want to face Raye for the moment. That's Naomi Misora for you: brave to the face of bullets and heart-attack based killers, but a coward in her interpersonal relationships.

* * *

 Misa Amane wasn't a shy woman. No model could be. She was cheerful and nice, but a few hours ago, she was rendered a speechless mess, when she was presented to one of the attendances to the Indie Music Festival and a senior farewell party.

A girl a few years younger than her. A brunette whose hair was shining in a blinding way thanks to the lights on the room, and an even brighter smile. Fortunately for her she recovered quickly, managing to greet her before thing got too weird, and scurrying away. Her name was Light Yagami, but it was written with the kanji for "Moon". Such a lovely name.

In the night, the students were in the hotel's dance room. Misa went there and found Light sitting in the table by herself.

With no pressure about making a fool of herself, Misa noticed that up close, she was even more beautiful than she first thought. Chocolate hair and gorgeous almond-shaped eyes. Eyes that right now are eyeing her calculatingly, her finger busy doing circles in the rim of her empty cup.

Misa saluted her, and Light greeted her back with a near dismissive way. Misa was accustomed to girls gushing over her, or dismissive due to jealousy, but Light didn't seem to be jealous at all. She seemed an aloof person by nature, and that only added more charm to her.

Isabella Manfredi's voice boomed through the room. Misa smiled, already thinking on a way to make herself more likeable to the apathetic girl.

_♫...Well you know that little place you like to go after dark?_

"No point in staying here alll bored the whole night. Want to dance?"

_♫...Brighton up Bar playing Mac De Marc...♫_

Light was not a fan of dancing (her being a ballet ballerina was more about doing exercise than dancing) and toyed with the idea to sent the other girl for a tube, but she opted for polite, so she nodded to the girl with the high pitched voice.

 _♫...Rock and roll nightclub 77_  
_I got this, how did this happen?...♫_

Misa let out a delighted squeal at her affirmative answer, and without more words she grabbed Light's hand and pulled her to the dance floor. Misa began to move sensually on the dance floor, close to Light's body, her back turned against her and her hair swishing from one side to other. 

 _♫...And you wonder now baby what you're turning into_  
_Is he lookin at me oh nah he's looking at you_  
_But I find myself stepping deep down deep down_  
_To the rock and roll night club looking for...♫_

Light turned Misa so they were facing each other, her hands firmly grabbing her hip and shoulder. Misa was in a daze, flushing when she saw how the younger girl was near a head taller than her, and pulled her closer, their bosoms slowly rubbing against each other.

 _♫ You (Get down here)_  
_You (Get down here) ♫_

The men around them were looking at them with barely concealed leers and pointing to them. Light rolled her eyes at their inmaturity

"What's wrong?" Misa asked worriedly at the dislike present in her dancing partner's eyes.

Light shook her head "Nothing. They are staring at us, that's all"

The blonde looked to the direction Light was watching "Yeah. It does bother you?"

"More or less. They act as they have never seen two girls dancing with each other. We're not even the only same sex people dancing in this room tonight"

Misa scanned the room again, her eyes falling on some of Light's female classmates, who were dancing with each other, most of them drunk, and she sighed with a mock hand to her heart "You're right, we may not be the only girls dancing with other girls here."

And then she smiled impishly  "But we sure as hell are the hottest looking ones"

And  _that_  almost pulled Light's first sincere smile in the night.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments!
> 
> The song Light and Misa were dancing is "Rock and Roll Rave" by the Preatures. Since I don't know how correctly post videos in AO3, I'm just going to leave the direction here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxnehzrQweY
> 
> Wara Ningyo* and the BB case are one and the same. But since L doesn't want the Task Force to know about a case which was so personal case to him, he refers it as the Wara Ningyo* in front of the Task Force.
> 
> Frankly I don't like how I wrote the whole Naomi/Raye situation. Too cliche to my tastes. Badly-written drama. But whatever. Raye may seem a little too villain-like in this chapter, but take in mind that everyone can became an asshole in the situation he is. And he is a sexist asshole in canon.
> 
> Also getting a bit tired of the slow pace of this fic, you guys must be bored. I wanted to speed up things a little (L and Light haven't even meet) But at least Light and Misa know each other now! Did you liked how they met, or did you hated it?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cameras and wire tapes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays to all of you! Hoping for a happy 2018 with health and life.

" I think there is a 5% of chance that one of your daughters is Kira, Yagami-san"

"Ryuzaki, you can't be serious! None of my daughters is Kira, I would know that!" Chief Yagami angrily said, while the rest of the Task Force responded with nods, supporting their Chief, with the exception of Naomi who remained silent.

L "gifted" him with an unimpressed look, while putting another cube to the small tower made of sugar cubes on the coffe table.

" I must admit that there's only a small chance of it, but in this moment, they are our only suspects."

Soichiro rubbed his temples, remembering how they had gotten to this situation

* * *

_A few hours ago_

As brilliant as L was, even he had his moments of depression. After the failure with the FBI agents, he locked himself in his dark room in Wammy's, waiting for the depression to kick off. His excuse to the Task Force was that "they needed time to settle their minds" while waiting for Naomi Misora's return to Japan.

The NPA stated that some members of the families of the NPA agents spotted the FBI agents following them. L was surprised. The FBI agents sent to Japan were ones of the best in the field, so either they got too comfy, or the people who spotted them were very observant.  _Too_  much observant to  _not_  be suspicious, L thought.

"I undertand your reasons to not reveal names or information to the FBI. But I need you to trust me with all the information you have. In other words, I need the names of the people who discovered the FBI agents in Japan"

The Task Force exchanged looks, while Soichiro Yagami cleared his throat "Ryuzaki, I'm glad you undertand our reasons to no tell the FBI more information. And while I'm aware you were the one who sent them, I fully trust you, I  _need_  to trust on you. The ones who discovered the FBI agents were my daughters"

"But Chief!"

"Every FBI had assigned two familes. Do you know the name of the FBI agent who were following your family?

"Yes. His name was Raye Penber..."

"Wait Raye?"

"Do you know him?" Aizawa asked

Naomi sighed, she didn't need the Task Force sniffing into her business "Yes... we were partnes in some cases"

Soichiro cleared his throat. "As I was saying, we didn't revel to the FBI who was the agent for which the whole operation was discovered. Saying it would only destroy the anonymity of the pople who he was spying"

"I see. Not other agents were compromised by the people they were investigating"

"Not to our knowledge"

L licked his fingers, gooey thanks to the juices of the strawberry he was holding " And how did you daughters discovered that someone was following them?"

" Sayu told me that she spotted a man wearing a trenchcoat outside of her school"

Naomi cringed. She told Raye, multiple times in fact, that he needed to ditch that trenchoat when he was in a stakeout. It would only succeed in making him look more suspicious.

"And Light, my eldest, told me that he was following her when she in a trip with one of her friends."

"Anything else?"

"No. Apparently a bus jacking happened in a trip that both Light and the agent were"

More licking "A bus jacking?"

"Yes."

"What happened in that busjacking"

"A criminal was holding the bus hostage. Light and her friend planned to rob the guns out of the criminal's hands, but the FBI convicned them to not do a thing. Light thought that he was an accomplice of the criminal, this is why she went to the Police so we could investigate him"

"The criminal, the one holding the bus hostage, what happened to him"

"The FBI agent defied him and he tried to flee. He was hit by a car in the process."

"And he...died?"

"The criminal, the one holding the bus hostage, what happend to him"

"The FBI agent defied him and he tried to flee. He was hit by a car in the process."

"And he...died?"

"Yes. We visited the morgue to be sure"

"Interesting"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Doesn't seem too convenient that the FBI agent's identity was compromised in bus jacking, who just happened to take place when you daughter was there too, and the criminal inmediately dies?"

"What are you insinuating Ryuzaki?"

"That seems too many coincidences to me, specially that the criminal died"

"Are you insinuating that my daughters are relationed with Kira. That's absurd!"

"No really, it just that that whole incident seems a little contrived to me. Unless Kira can kill..."

"...with other methods outside of heart attacks" Naomi interrupted/completed for him.

L wasn't annoyed. Actually he rewarded her with a tiny smile "Excellent deduction, Naomi Misora. I was thinking the same thing. However, that's only a theory, although a very interesting one, since we don't have any proof that Kira can kill with other ways outside of heart attacks"

"So stupid. if Kira was actually able to kill in other ways, why just stick to heart attacks instead of more subtle ways. It would be more easier for him to stay under the radar" Aizawa sentenced.

"Because Kira doesn't want to stay  _under the radar._  Kira wants to be known to the whole world, so people can view Kira as the ultimate expression of justice"

"An attention whore" Naomi said with a smile.

* * *

 

The next hours were spend in infinite revision of data, documents, witnesses reports etc

After they finished their investigation" (investigation to them, to L, it was just many hours of doing nothing) then was when he dropped the bomb " I think there is a 5% of chance that one of your daughters is Kira, Yagami-san"

Naturally Soichiro protested. He knew his daughters as the palm of his hands, none of them could be a killer. The rest of the Task Force protested too. The knew that Yagami girls, Light specially, and they knew they couldn't be kilers. Impossible.

" I must admit that there's only a small chance of it, but in this moment, they are our only suspects."

Naomi nodded in agreement. None of the people they had investigated seemed remotely suspicious, and while the Yagami girls didn't seem suspicious too, at the moment they were the only ones with a remote inkling to Kira.

"What about the Kitamura family? Penber was investigating them too"

"True. However the Kitamura family never knew a thing about the FBI investigating them, at least not until you discovered it"

Soichiro was mad, but he was a man of justice so he swallowed and said " What do you suggest then Ryuzaki?" An interrogation?"

"No, that's not going to work. I think it's time to plant bugs and cameras all over the house"

"What? Are you crazy? That's illegal!" Aizawa screamed.

Soichiro didn't like such an idea, but he nodded "I hope you know how deeply offended I'm at the idea of considering my family as suspects, but considering the circumstances, I do agree with you planting bugs and surveillance cameras all over the house"

"But Chief, you don't have to do that. Ryuzaki himself admits that the suspicions to you family are extremly low "

"Chief, you have a wife and two young daughters in home"

"And do you think I don't know all that? This is my decision so I suggest you just shut you mouth!"

Mtasuda' eyes widened at the agressiveness coming out of his normally patient boss.

"Sorry for yelling" and turning to L " When the survillance equipment would be installed in my house?"

"Tomorrow. The Kitamura's house in going ot be under surveillance too. And as courtesy, you can be present during the surveillance"

* * *

 

"How was the trip kiddos?" Sachiko asked to both Light and Yamamoto, the latter seating in the backseat of Sachiko's old Suzuki Suzulight . His mother was at work so Sachiko picked both of them.

Light shrugged while Yamamoto started to cheerfully chat with her mother. It was an enjoyable trip. Except for Misa Amane thing. The gal, although nice, was too "sticky" and annoying for Light's tastes, she barely stayed away from her for two days. When Misa asked for her telephone so they remained in contact, she left her a fake number.

After they dropped Yamamoto in his house, they went to their won and chatted a bit in the dining hall. Sayu was with her friends so they were alone in the house.

When Light went to her bedroom, she noticed something.

 _"The doorknob"_   and when she crouched, she saw how the the mechanical pencil she always left in the hinges of the door was broken.

"Mom, did you went into my bedroom these days?" 

"No baby. Why?"

_"It wasn't Mom. That leaves only Dad or Sayu. My father rarely, if ever, gets into our bedrooms. Maybe it was Sayu but she isn't here, so I can't ask."_

"Oh nothing. Some things were out of place, that's all"

"Maybe it was Sayu"

_"Yes, maybe. But I can't ask Sayu inside the house, in case my suspicions are true"_

_"_ Mom, I left some things in Yamamoto's travel bag. I'm going to pick it up"

"Okay, but don't be late. Dinner is almost ready"

After she got out the house, Light got out her cellphone and started calling Sayu.

"So I assume we're not going to your boyfriend's house" Ryuk commented.

Light made a shushing gesture with her hand.  _Beep,Beep,Beep,_

"Light?"

"Hey Sayu"

"Hey, how's going?  You already home? "

"Yes. Sayu I want to ask you a question. Did you get inside my room on these days I was out?"

"Mmm, nope. Why?"

"Nothing special. It's just I can't find a book and I thought maybe you picked it up"

"As if I would want to steal your boring books. Bye"

"Bye"

Sitting in the farthest bench of the park near her house, a place where nobody would saw her talking to the air, she spoke up "Look Ryuk, I think there's a strong possibily that wires tapes, maybe surveillance cameras are inside my house"

"Really?"

"Yes, Do you remember the last thing I did before getting out the house for my travel?"

"Duhhh..."

Light sighed "I spread hand cream in the both inteior and exterior door knobs, so they were sliperry because of it. If someone asks, I can simply say that my hands had too much cream on them. Today I found the doorknobs still slippery. However, I always left my  doorknob 5 centimeters down, and today was all the way up."

"The most incriminating thing was the mechanical pencil I usually leave in the hinges of the door. It was broken. But my doorknobs was still slippery, that means that someone was inside my room, but more important, someone was inside my room and did not want **me** to know. That's why I didn't even change my clothes, they may be bugged.

"That L is closing on you, isn't he?" Ryuk laughed

Light puffed her lips, angry at his nonchalant actitude "Ryuk, do you know that you can't eat apples right now?"

"What?  Oh right! The cameras would only see a floating apples eating itself!"

"Look, I can't risk being caught, and you can not risk your fun ending just now, don't you? I make you a deal: you search for the cameras in the house, and I would buy you the double of apples when we are outside of it"

Ryuk grinned "Deal"

"Good, now accompany me to the cyber coffee. In case my house is really bugged, I need to take care of some things"

* * *

 "Ryuzaki, I would like to know if there is possible on me being the only one present during my family's...private times" Soichiro was willing to put aside the privacy of his family for the sake of justice, but he still wanted to know if there was a way to keep both.

It was almost 8:00 PM, most of the Task Force were gone, and the only ones in the living hall of the hotel room were Soichiro Yagami, Naomi Misora and L.

L didn't move his eyes off the screen "I'm afraid I can do that. As the father of the family in question, I can't trust you to have a 100% unbiased view. That would be risky  and unprofesional"

Naomi intervened " What about me? I'm not compromised  and I'm a woman, I think there isn't problem in me and  Chief Yagami being the only ones present in their privates times. You can watch the surveillance cameras with us the rest of the time"

Naomi almost felt like they were kicking L out of his own investigation, but what other options were there? Sayu and Light Yagami were  _children*_ , and she trusted L but she still didn't like the idea of him watching two teenage girls while they were in the shower or changing clothes.

L stared at both of them, then nodded "I think is reasonable. I trust your unbiased feeling on this case Misora"

Naomi smiled. To be honest she didn't think L was going to accept, but he was far more reasonable than she thought.

In his mind, L rolled his eyes at their naivety. Suckers. Didn't they suspect that he was going to watch the live stream of the surveillance cameras anyways since the comfort of his own bedroom?

* * *

 "Oh, Hideki Ryuga! Why there is no boys like him on my school?" 

Light stared at her sister, in full  "swooning-mode" all over Hideki Ryuga. Light thought the guy was pretty handsome but based in his interviwes, he seemed like a total airhead. And she never understood people's obsession with celebritites.

Her mother begged Sayu to end her dinner, but she wasn't listening. Even so, Sachiko seemed more amused than annoyed at her sister's antics.

**" _Light I found another camera! There is one in the living room, one in your mother's bedroom, another in the kitchen, 34 in your bedroom and 34 in your sister bedroom"_**

_"Sayu's bedroom? L must be linking Raye Penber's discovering and thus the discovering of the FBI with Kira."_

* * *

 L stared at the screen. Nothing seemed out of place with the Yagami family. It was possible that this was just a dead end? Maybe but for the moment, there it was nothing they could do about it.

Sayu Yagami was young but that wasn't an impediment to have her as a suspect as Kira. However she didn't seem to fit the mold. Incredible nice and easily excitable, squealing over celebrities. Nothing about her screamed "Kira" to him.

Light Yagami was a more acceptable candidate as Kira. According to L's files, she was the top scoring student of all Japan. That's still wasn't proof of anything, because being book smart doesn't translate to being crafty as Kira. Despite that, she was far more interesting that her sister. L couldn't pinpoint exactly what was so interesting about her, but whatever it was, it was able to make him not take off his eyes from her.

"Watari?"

"Yes?"

"Put the announcement in the Kitamura's house"

"1500 officers are coming to Japan in response to Kira's murders" said an emergency headline while Hideki Ryuga's version of "The Bachelor" was still on.

"1500 officers! Holy crap! "  Sayu whistled

_" It's that true or is L using his bluffing tactic? Nah, this is L wanting me to get into his trap. Sorry L, I'm not falling this time"_

So Light just stared at the screen and kept her mouth shut.

* * *

 Sayu was so rapt in Hideki Ryuga's perfection that she didn't notice Light flopping next to her in the couch. She turned and saw Light smiling at her

"We should watch a mvoie. Hell, we can even saw Hideki Ryuga's movie if you want"

"Since when do you want to watch movies with me? You always complain the I always want to watch Hideki Ryuga's movies"

"I'm goign to favour the honor to watch movies with me. Heck we can even watch Hideki Ryuga's movies if you want" Light teased.

Both sister accomodated around each other in the couch. Sayu saw her mother staring at them and waved so she could join them.

Now the three Yagami girls were in the living room, piling up in the couch with sheets. They had a marathon of movies, huddled with cans of soda, popcorn, potato chips and other junk food, chatting and joking around. It was a lovely family scene, and Soichiro was pleased and secretly sad that he wasn't present there. He was so busy nowadays.

What Soichiro didn't know was the sinister plan behind that lovely family time...

_**"Ohhhhh! The sympthoms are STARTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"** _

_"Just watch me L, Criminals are dying right now. I went to the cyber coffe today, and since there, I programmed their deaths happening at precisely these hours while I'm here, none the wiser, having a movie night with my family"_  she thought while making a comment about the benefits of practical effect over CGI.

**_"UhuhUhUhUh!"_ **

Light had to fight to not grin like a maniac. Nothing could ruin her glee, no even Ryuk's withdrawal sympthoms and pretzel dance behind her

_"Now I'm going to take a potato chip... **AND EAT IT!!!!!!!!!!**_

* * *

 The report form last reports say that 5 criminals died tonight. All of them were very high profile criminals. Two murderers and one rapist "Watari read with his sage-like voice.

L bit his bloody thumb " _I watched the family last night. They were togtehr the whole time, watching movies.They seemed too...perfect. Or maybe I'm trying to see more that  is there becuase they are the only ones remotely suspicious"_

"Ryuzaki, you saw my family last night. There is no way any of them could be Kira"

L bit the cookie of his hand with all the strenght of his teeth.

_"But Kira can control people's times of death. But even so, I have no proof of anything. It's not like I can accuse Sayu Yagami or Light Yagami of scheduling those criminals' deaths. The only thing I watched was them having dinner, chatting a bit, having a movie night and falling slept."_

"Yagami-San, you know as well as me that Kira can control people's time of death. I'm afraid this don't absolve your daughters from suspicions. The surveillance equipment will remain there until I'm satisfied with the investigation on them"

_"Kira, who are you?"_

* * *

Sachiko, Sayu and Light awoken until noon, between a mess of empty junk food bags and cans. Thank goddness it was Saturday.

Light smiled, remembering the events of the past day.  _Hoping to see which is my method of murder L? Sorry, is not that easy with me"_

If only those annoying cameras and wire tapes were out her house for her upcoming birthday.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potato chip scene, I couldn't resist XD.
> 
> I once used the method with the cream on the doorknob to know if my brother got into my bedroom or not. The tiny piece of paper Light used in canon seemed too suspicious to me. I mean, who places a piece of paper in the door? Only someone who is hiding something.
> 
> *Canonically Naomi has a soft spot for children, so I guess she wouldn't be too fond with the idea of spying in two teenage girls.
> 
> In this fic Light doesn't use regular TV bulletins to kill anymore, since the whole Lind L. Taylor incident and fake new bulletins situation in chapter 5 made her too distrustful of regular news, so she only uses the internet or Deep Web. So no tiny TV in potato chip bag...
> 
> Next chapter: Light's birthday!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voyeurism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad Chapter.
> 
> Happy holidays to all of you! Praying for a 2018 full of health, love and life.

_Two weeks after the surveillance cameras are installed, a month after the FBI retires from Japan_

_"♫ Happy Birthday to you! ♫"_

_"♫ Happy Birthday to you! ♫"_

_"♫ Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!♫"_

Light's eyes opened to see the smiling faces of both her mother and Sayu's, the former holding a tray with a breakfast for her.

"Good morning Light! Eat you food before it gets cold"

Light took the tray carefully, making sure to plaster a smile on her face. To her, birthdays never were much of a big deal, although today she was kind of excited, because she was 17 now, just a year shy of being able to legally move on from home. Her Kira duties made her want to have her own space.

"So, I already have an itinerary for your birthday party" Sayu said while sitting on Light's bed, her mother already gone for the preparations for the party.

"I don't see the need of preparations. It's just going to be a small gathering Sayu"

"Still, I already have the list. First, we're going to wait for your friends here. After that, we're going to the mall to shop, the movies, to the ice rink..."

Light looked her room, still infected with cameras and wire tapes. It was amazing that she had resisted two weeks of constant spying. Showering and getting naked in front of cameras was terrifing at first, but Light wasn't nothing but adaptable. She tended to shower and change clothes rapidly, in the most straightforward way possible. She had also been extremely careful, programming the deaths of criminals and inmates with weeks of anticipation, so they had nothing on her. And in case she either fell sick or another setback, no one could trace the lack of criminals dying back to her.

Light returned her look to her parloting sister. What a long day.

* * *

Eichii was the first one to come. Yuri, Shiori and Maki came not too long after. Despite being popular in highschool, Light didn't have many friends, and calling the ones she had "friends" was a bit of a strech. Most of her class didn't know her cellphone or where she lived.

Light came out her room with a red, half sleeved lace dress that her mother bought her, because she always said that red was "her " color.

"Looking hot Light!" Yuri said with a bit of envy in her voice.

Light smiled politely, sitting in the couch, at the same time that the doorbell ringed. It was Yamamoto, sweating like he had run a marathon, and Light couldn't help but snort upon seeing how the clothes he was wearing were brand new, as if he was the birthday boy and not her. In his left hand was a bouquet of a dozen of red roses, a bottle of wine in the other.

Light raised one elegant eyebrow "Wine Yamamoto? We're still underage"

"Shh! Your mother can hear us. Here for you" he said extending the bouquet to her.

Sachiko came out the kitchen, just in time for Yamamoto to hid the bottle of wine in his backpack "There you are. Hungry kids?" and without waiting for an answer, she left them a tray with sandwiches. None of them rejected it of course. Sachiko Yagami was a great cook.

"Dad is coming Mom?" Light asked. Her mother looked at her with a resigned expression and shook her head.

Light made a face. Her father was still watching the surveillance cameras. Sachiko, misinterpreting her face for sadness, quickly changed the subject "Oh, and those flowers?"

"Yamamoto bring them to me"

"Oooh" Sachiko smiled, picking the bouquet to put the roses in a vase with fresh water, winking at Light while doing so. Light sighed at her mother' cheesy attempts to play matchmaker.

* * *

It wasn't uncommon for Soichiro to not be present for a family occasion, but never before he had been able to watch his family even he was still at work. It made him feel like he was there with them, at least in spirit. Those thoughts kept him a bit detached from the conversation that Aizawa was holding with L.

"Ryuzaki, we have been watching both the the Chief's and Kitamura's family. There's nothing suspicious about them! We should stop this show and start catching the real Kira" Aizawa cried while L, Soichiro and Naomi were sitting in front of the screens watching said families. 

Naomi usually was in L's side, but Aizawa had a point. Nothing productive had came out of two weeks of constant surveillance in the Yagami and Kitamura's households.

L was nibbling a chocolate-covered doughnut and after swallowing it all, he said in a quiet voice "All right. According to what we are seeing, Light and her friends are going to be out the house in a couple of minutes, with Sachiko and her sister accompaining them. Watari is going to take off the cameras in that moment."

The Task Force smiled a bit with relief.

"So that's means Light and Sayu are finally clear of suspicions" Matsuda laughed.

"I didn't say that. We are only going to take off the cmaeras becuase I agree that nothing of any value has came out of these weeks of surveillance. They're still under suspicions." L said with finality.

Soichiro shock his head at his boss' stubbornness and turned to watch his wife and Light, currently discussing in the kitchen.

* * *

"Hatori* is such a gentleman, Nice detail with the flowers" Sachiko commented with subtlety while she was washing the dishes.

"Mom, don't start please" Since when Sachiko got the impression that Light wanted to talk about her love life, or lack thereof, with her?

"I just don't get why you broke up with him. He adores you Light"

Light already knew that. Yamamoto and her had been friends since him and his mother moved to their neighboorhood near a decade ago. And when they started middle school, she started to notice an interest on her beyond mere friendship.

She dated him not because she loved him, or because she liked him in a romantic or sexual way. She dated him because he was the first one to ask her (maybe not the very first one, but the first that counted) and she saw no reason not to. The kissing was fine, the hand holding was nice too, but it was meh. Nothing about those kisses after study evenings or those longing looks made her feel a single thing. It was just...boring.

* * *

"What are you doing here? Light asked when she was looking for a sweater and Yamamoto followed her. At the moment they were alone in her bedroom.

"Ah, well you know, I wanted to talk about, you know, you and I..."

Light faced him "Don't you think is a bad time for it?"

"Yes, ehh..." Yamamoto's face held an expression of indecision, before getting a more serious face, and without warning, he kissed her.

Surprised at it, Light's eyes automatically posed over the ceiling, where she knew a surveillance camera was hidden. And instead of following her first instint; that was pushing Yamamoto off and slapping him,  she placed her arms in her neck, because a "better" idea was forming in her mind, while her lips were curved in a smile _"This is going to be fun"_

* * *

Naomi politely adverted her eyes off the screen presenting two teenagers in a heaty kiss, with Soichiro to her left, who seemed  undecided between placing his fist on the screen, or getting outisde the room in a hurry. In a tacit  agreement, both agents got out the room at the same time, a bit embarrased  at the affectionate display.

That wasn't the case of an imsomatic detective in a room a few meters afar from them. L had an army of peepers at his disposal, this was far from the first time of him watching people in quite intimate settings. This was the first time, however, that he felt actual _interest_ in what was happening. He saw Light Yagami being surprised at her friend's boldness, opening the eyes and looking towards the ceiling. For a moment, L felt like she knew about the cameras, and like she was looking directly at **him**. The blood in his veins started to run faster at such thought.

* * *

Yamamoto was excited. Too much excited. He never thought that Eichii's advice about stealing a kiss could ever work. Their chaste kiss quickly turned into a heated kiss, and they fell in the bed. Light was gently caressing his back. Bravely he let his hand roam over Light's breast, and she actually encouraged him, pressing his hands over her bosom while he manhandled them in a manner that alternated between soft and rough. Light never allowed him to venture to second base before!

* * *

This was awkward.

The idea of set a show for L and to freak out her father seemed great before. But now, she was regreting her blatant show. To make matters worse, Yamamoto started dry humping her and now she was feeling something hard poking her leg. She experimentally moved her leg and Yamamoto moaned at that. He started to rub his hardness against her and muttering something about "close"

After a second too long for someone so bright, Light finally understood what he was meaning for that, so she pushed him abruptly off her, and ordered him to go to the bathroom and take care of his business quickly, that people was down waiting for them. Yamamoto whimpered, and adjusting his glasses, he inmediately scurried off to the bathroom, closing the room with a resounding tud.

Light placed back her head against her pillow. " _Never gonna happen again."_

_**"That was HOOOOOTTTTT! Light-oh! I never knew you had IT in you!"** _

"Shut up Ryuk"

* * *

L was disappo...no he wasn't disappointed. More like waiting for more. After all, sexual situations were a great way to find out the personality of a person, since in the intercourse, people were at their most vulnerable and open. Since he started spying in the Yagami family, Light always stood out in comparison to her mother and sister. She seemed insincere and he wanted to find out about her.

However, that had to wait. Kira was still at loose, and while L hadn't totally let Light out of suspicions, the probabilites of her being Kira were less that 2% based in his continued watching of her in the past two weeks. Besides he had already promised to the Task Force to take off the cameras out the Yagami household. Looking what made Light Yagami tick, unfortunately, had to wait. 

* * *

Thankfully no one noticed that her and Yamamoto were alone in her bedroom a bit too long. The trip to the mall, shoping, ice rink, and watching movie (a Hideki Ryuga's one, Sayu's idea, no doubt) was nice though. Yamamoto was all over her during the whole evening, too close for her liking; he seemed to believe that their makeout session meant that they were a couple again.

Sachiko picked them up at 7:00 PM, to go home and partake in a lavish dinner. Sachiko sure knew how to be a great host.  After that, the gifts. Eichii gave her painting made by himself (not a very good one), Sayu a perfume, Yuri and Maki both gave her pair of jeans, and Yamamoto's present was a copy of _"Gravity's Rainbow"*._ In behalf on both her parents (because her father wasn't present) Sachiko gave her a gold chain.

Around a half hour later, a knock to the door was heard and Sayu opened it, thinking it was their father finally coming home. The last person she expected was a blonde dressed in a revealing, Lolita-gothic fashion

* * *

"Misa?" Light asked in disbelief. How the hell did she found out where she lived? 

"Hey Light! Happy birthday I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner but Misa-Misa was busy in a photo shoot"

_"Could she stop referring to herself in third person?"_

"Wait a sec! You are Misa-Misa? The model?" Sayu asked in awe.

"Yes I am" Msa cheerfully said, always eager to meet more fans.

"Oh god, I have been a fan of yours since you appeared in Misa-Misa Sweets* Light how come did you never told me that you knew Misa Misa?"

"I forgot" Light deadpanned.

"Speaking about forgetting, here is your gift" Misa cried pushing a tiny box to her.

Light opened it and her eyes widened. Inside the box was a platinum and emerald pin

"It's Tiffany" Misa said gleefully, but her smile fell a little at Light's expression _"Did she not like Misa-Misa's gift?"_

Light _liked_ the gift, but it was too much. Light calculated the price of that pin around $6000, at least. Way too much money to spend in someone that Misa barely knew. What if that woman was more than she looked? Did she suspected that Light was hiding something, and wanted to be in her good graces?

"How did you find out my direction?" Light said in a blunt manner without even thanking Misa for the gift. Sachiko, who was watching the scene since the kitchen, gasped at her daughter's inusual rudeness.

" In the Internet" Misa said in a very vague way, and before Light could ask her to elaborate more, she continued "I wanted to call you, instead of coming here without warning, but you never answered your phone. I left you three messages"

_"She left me messages? But I left her a fake number! So she managed to find out my direction and my real number? Stalker"_

Light definitely needed to keep a eye on that woman.

"Tomorrow I want to take you to the mall. You know, a day of girl-shopping" 

"Sorry Misa-Misa, But Light already did that today with her friends" Sayu interrupted while gesturing to the shopping bags in the couch.

Something dark and ugly passed through Misa's eyes at that, but it got erased before either Light or Sayu could notice it "Oh, doesn't matter. Tomorrow I have another photo shoot, If you want I can take you with me, your sister can come with us too"

Light was about to say no to that _stalker_ , but Sayu' puppy eyes basically threatened to cry and throw a temper tantrum if she denied.

"Fiiiiine"

"Yay!" both girls said in unison.

* * *

Tomorrow was the day.

He was a lonely man, he had been since he lost his beloved wife in a traffic accident a few years ago.

But love finally was on his way. He knew that since the moment he saw the pretty blonde in the pages of his daughter's magazine.

Misa-Misa.

He and she were made for each other.

So what if she was young enough to be his daughter? He started to keep track on her, pleased at the fact she hadn't any boyfriends, despite the Press' claims. Obviously she knew she was his, just as he was hers.

Tomorrow was going to be the day they finally were going to be together. She was going to accept his love. He was sure of that.

The knife in his clothes was just _reassurance._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I have no idea which is Yamamoto's first name. I remembered a fic in where his first name was Hatori. I don't know if that is canon or not, but I will use it anyways.
> 
> *"Gravity Rainbow" is a novel from 1973 by Thomas Pynchon
> 
> *"Misa-Misa Sweets" is a show that only exist in DN live-action movies, in which Misa prepares and bakes treats.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One, two, three stalkers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2018!
> 
> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

Misa had heard about feeling possessive towards a friend before. But it had never been her case. She had tons of friends, was vivacious and enthusiastic. Posessivity was not in her vocabulary.

But she definitely felt **that** when Sayu said that Light had gone shopping with her friends. Friends in which surely **that** Yamamoto was included, the guy who always looked at Light with goo goo eyes. In different circumstances she would find it adorable, but in that particular case, it only irritated her, even if she was thankful with him for providing her with Light' real number...

Light surely leave her a fake number by accident, Misa did that all the time by accident, since she had so many cellphones...

Misa was an expert of denial.

But getting back to the point in hand,why it mattered so much to her that Light was with her and not someone else? Those people were her friends after all. But Misa wanted Light's attentions on her and just her. And that happened since the moment she laid eyes on the girl.

Maybe her heart already knew what was happening, but her mind just didn't want to accept it.

* * *

 "And this is the interior of ToHo Studios! Misa said in a theatrical way to her two-people audience. Yori, the guide assigned to them, smiled at Misa, even if the blonde was basically stealing her job.

At first, Light was not too hung go with the idea of spending a day in company with the lively, (but so annoying) blonde. However, even she  had to admit that everything was very interesting. Misa's current photo shoot was taking place outside To-ho Studios* and they had total accesss to the locations within it, including looking at the real locations of movies such as Godzilla, Yoyimbo and Taxing Woman. 

"Misa-Misa what's this?"

Misa looked up with a smile, Oh that's the poster for Unrelenting/ 埋め込み可能な, Hideki's Ryuga next movie. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but the plot is going to be about an American/Japanese spy working for the CIA, but Japan and USA get into a political war over their differences in nuclear weapons. He is victim of racism between his peers because of it, and so he has to chose between renouncing to his American nationalty, staying in the USA and working for the CIA, or renounce to his American nationality as his Japanese mother wants"

Well, that sounded much better that his usual repertorie of cheesy, teen-romance fantasy movie, Light decided.

"Misa-Misa do you know Hideki?" Sayu asked 

"Not really, but if I get the lead in Ishii Nakamura's next movie, I will be acting alongside him"

"About what is that movie about?"

"Its name is No ever again, it's about two people who are madly in love, but she is already married and is pregnant too,."

"No way, so you get to kiss Hideki Ryuga?"

"Yep"

"You are so lucky!" Sayu said with barely concealed envy "Can I be your double in the kissing scenes? I could kiss him one and another time. Again, again and again." Sayu said while roaming her own hands on her own body, probably imagining it was Hideki's hands instead of her own.

Light smiled at her sister, with a smile bright enough to light up the room. Misa's knees went weak at the sight of it.

_"What's happening to me?"_

* * *

 "So what do you want to talk about?" Misa asked for like the second time in fifteeen minutes.

Light and Misa were sitting in a bakery/coffee shop in Odaiba. Sayu wasn't no longer with her, at her mother's insistence that she needed to leave her sister alone with her friends. Unfortunately for them, Sayu served as a buffer for Light and Misa, since ealier most of their converstion were initiated and feed by Light's younger sister. Now they were alone, they have very few subjects to talk. Not a problem for Misa in the first hours, with her being a chatterbox, but now she was finally running out of topics too.

_"And in other news, nine inmates died this morning, presumably by hearts attacks....."_

_"_ Kira is a bastard. He killed my brother's friend"

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was in bad steps, but I knew him, he wasn't a bad kid"

Light didn't continue to hear their conversation, she knew that her methods were controversial. That was old hat. But when she returned her gaze to the table, she surprised herself seeing Misa giving those men a death glare.

"Misa?"

"Eh? Sorry I was looking at them. Dumb asses" the blonde pouted

"So you're Pro-Kira?" Perhaps we truly had something in common, Light thought.

"Oh no, not you too" Misa exclaimed with her hands on the air

"Not me too what?"

"Now you're judging me too! Kira is a hero, I don't get why is too hard for people to accept that! Everybody looks at me like I'm crazy when I told them so" Misa angrily stated, but dropping her voice enough so people around couldn't listen.

"I will repeat the same thing I said to my classmates about Kira: He seems to view the world as something in need to be fixed. Admirable, but misguided.

"So...you don't hate Kira" Misa tentatively asked.

"No, I don't. I do not agree with his methods, but I can understand his reasoning" 

"Good, because I admire Kira. He... he killed my parents's murderer" Misa admitted with a deep sadness in her

_**"Ohh, unexpected"** _

Light raised her eyebrows _"Unexpected indeed"_ "Come again?"

" Yes" Misa sighed "my parents were killed near a year ago. I saw him, he was a neighboor of us. He killed them in front of me! We went to court and I payed a lot of money in lawyers, but people kept saying tha my testimony alone wasn't enough proof. And the end, he was left in liberty by the judge"

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be, he got what he deserved at the end. I was devastated, but then, a weeks after I saw him in the news, dead by heart attack. That's why Kira is the person in which I completely believe" the blonde bursted into bitter tears, head falling on the table.

Light remembered murdering someone accused of killing a couple whose surname was Amane, but although "Amane" wasn't a common surname, it wasn't too uncommon either, so she never thought anything about it. Who could have guessed that they were Misa's parents? Small world.

Despite her pity at Misa's sob story, the feeling was overshadowed by a sense of pride and flattery at the faith in Misa's words. Maybe she wasn't so annoying after all.

"Hey" Light rubbed the gothic chick's arm, and softly cupped her face "Look at me. Don't cry. You're okay and I'm sure that your parents, wherever they are now, are resting in peace, Maybe they didn't survived, but you did and I'm sure they would be content with that."

Misa smiled all toothy and charming, even through her tears and cosmetic smeared face. Light was so, so sweet.

* * *

After a quick bathroom trip by Misa to fix her makeup, the girls got out the coffee shop, and when they crossed the steet, they were unexpectedly ambushed by a total stranger.

* * *

The setting they were seemed taken out of a movie.

"Hello"  a middle-aged man greeted with a smile and strange behavior. Despite his common and ordinary appearance, it was obvious that something was not right with him

"My love," he said, staring at Misa, who only pressed to Light even harder.

The stranger seemed to notice Light, and smiled at her in an equally disturbing way, adding "So we have witnesses my love"

"Misa-Misa does not know who you are"

"You do not know, I am your love, and you are mine" What was wrong with him?

"No" said Misa in a sigh

"Not what my love?" the man continued with a too-sweet voice

"I'm not your love, I think ... I think you confuse me with someone else" 

"My love, you and I are made for each other, it's obvious" Light had a bad feeling about the situation, so he went to Misa and said "Misa, I think we should go"

"Yes, Mr uh...uh I'm not your love, I do not know you, so I suggest you...go?" Misa said with a meek voice, afraid of that crazy man. She, as Light, had notice something off about that man, even before he spoke.

The man's disturbed but to that point gentle eyes became cold at the refuff, and his eyes landed on Light. Yes, that woman. That woman did not want him and Misa-Misa to be together. For what other reason would she suggest Misa that they should leave, together just when he was declaring his love for Misa. What if they were ... No, it could not be.

Disgusting. Unnatural. His Misa-Misa could not be that kind of woman. That woman by her side was badly influencing her. That should be.

"Its HER?" he screamed almost out of his mind. Misa could only look helplessly as he turned his head to look at both her and Light. "It's her!" and inmediately he launched towards both women. Specifically, towards Light.

* * *

However, he soon found out something was wrong _"Why I can't hit them? "_

* * *

Misa' stalker didn't know what was happening, But Light did. What was happening was that an-apple-loving Shinigami was softly pushing the blade out her way everytime the man tried an attack, giving the impression that their attacker was solely someone with bad aim. 

Taking advantage of the situation,  Light grabbed his arm and threw him through her shoulder, him landing against the ground. With him at the ground, Light put her boot over his wrist, breaking it with a loud _Crunch_. For good measure, she kicked him on the face, apparently knocking him out.

For a moment, Light thought about stabbing him to death while he was unconscious, but she did not do it for two reasosn: One: she was not completely sure that he was really inconcious, and was not willing to go near him to find out. Two, she did not want to leave evidence for any reason. What if the Police found his corpse and performed DNA and fingerprints tests?

So, she only picked  the knife on her feets and ran away with Misa at her heels.

* * *

 Misa already thought that Light was pretty cool, and she didn't thought she couldn't get any cooler. Watching her protecting her from that crazy stalker was so awesome, with her performing those amazing Kung-Fu moves.

"That was so cool Light!" gushed Misa "And those Kung Fu..!"

"It was Aikido" Light corrected without looking back nor slowing her stride

"Whatever, it was so cool! When you learned to do that?"

Light didn't want to answer but they were already in the bus station, so it's not like she could just ignore the blonde " When I was younger. In Okinawa, with my granparents"

"And you know another martial arts?"

"Karate"

"Really? What else?" kept asking the blonde, apparently forgetting about the life-threating situation they were just a few minutes ago.

* * *

Unfortunately for them, the man was more resistant that he looked. And he quickly recovered of Light's kick.

He was alone when he woke up, but didn't matter. He knew the nearest bus station, the one Misa always was when she was going home. So he ran towards it, covering himself with his sweater. So no one could see him

* * *

"And you are black belt in Karate?" asked Misa.

"Yes" Light said, wanting to sew a zipper on Misa's mouth, so she could shut up forever.

 ♫ 流れる時の中瞬 刹那的煌きを ♫

Misa looked her cellphone "Oh, it's my sister. Wait here" she stepped  a few meters from her "Hey sis. What's up? Oh yes, I'm home. With whom?Light!My new friend! Yes, I'm gonna present her to you. When? Oh well..." Misa keept walking while speaking with her phone.

Light was cool with the interruption, happy to have a moment without Misa chattering her poor ear off. But soon her happiness was replaced with cautioness at the sound of feet.

* * *

He didn't have his butcher knife anymore. But he had a Swiss pocket-knife.

Seeing Misa Misa with that _queer_ made his eyes go red. He inmediately launched  towards them again. wanting to take them by surpirse.

And he probably would have done it, if not due to Light's sharp ear. And her peeping Shinigami

**_"Light-Oh, stalker is up and behind you!"_ **

Light turned with knife on hand, fully intending to slash his face with it. But before that, everything came to a rapid stop.

* * *

"Ahahah!!!!!!!!" the man started convulsing violently, sweating, and gripped his chest in unadultered desperation.

Light was breathing heavily _"He seems to have a...heart attack?"_

She looked at Ryuk, who was choking in his laughter at this unexpected turn of events, and she sent a silent question with her eyes _"Did you do this?"_

**_"Nope, It wasn't me"_**

_So who?_

* * *

In a grim Realm full of reapers, a Shinigami with the feelings of an angel, was crying, knowing his inevitable fate produced by his sin.

"GELUS, WHAT DID YOU DO? What did you do? That's wasn't necessary!" another Shinigami asked frantically, knowing that nothing could be done by now.

"I'm sorry. I had to. You have to protect her, from him... You know how he is, you know...." the Shinigami broke into tears once more. The other Shinigami tried to grab him, but she did a second too late, and the only thing she grasped was the a bit of sand before the wind took away his ashes.

* * *

"What happened?" Misa asked scared, her face deadly pale, upon seeing the man stalking them, stalking her, at Light's feet, but this time with a horrible expression of pain in his face.

Light didn't know what answer. _The man tried to attack me, and then he suffered a heart attack, or what it seemed like it?_ Yeah, right. Misa wasn't the sharpest pen in the box, but she wasn't a complete idiot either. She probably could place everything together, and Light wasn't even guilty of anything in this ocassion. Misa could be a Kira supporter, that didn't mean she trusted her yet. Probably she never would.

"I beat him up" Light saw how Misa's face turned pink and happy at her answer. She couldn't tell her that he died, even less the _way_ he died. "But he may be awakening any moment now, so we should leave" and thankfully, a bus could be seen at a distance.

"But" Light basically thrown Misa into the bus "But Light" Misa whispered, apparently getting the silent hint that they should be quiet " we have to tell the Police"

"No"

"But why not?"

"It's too dangerous!"

"What? You think we should leave him to...!" Light "discreetly" put her hand over Misa's mouth, observing if anyone was overhearing their conversation. The only people in the bus were themselves, an elderly lady and her daughter, and a junkie dozzing off.

"Look Misa" Light said, her voice dangerously tight and low "We are going to stay quiet about this. That's it. Understood?" she said gripping her arm, with  a bit more force than necessary.

"Okk-aay"

* * *

  _Two days later_

Misa didn't want to upset Light, she truly didn't. But she was wrong. They should tell the Police about her crazy stalker. What if he would go after Misa-Misa again, or worse, Light?

So Misa sent an email to the NPA to make a anonymous compliant. What Light didn't know couldn't hurt her.

Misa wasn't dumb. The trial of her parents' murderer  was indicted with much discretion, to protect her privacy from the Press. However, Kira still killed him. Meaning that Kira was getting information from the Police. He could take care of that lunatic.

Hopefully Light could forgive her. Or better yet, thank her.

* * *

 L didn't believe In God. To him, God was just a belief that people made so they could feel like they could place their worries or problems in a higher being. He was above such nonsense.

But if God in fact, _did_ exist, and L just happened to be an arrogant, unbeliever bastard , then this should what  people called "a signal sent by God"

Just when he was feeling depressed over his lack of progression in the Kira case, this happened. An anonymous complaint by Misa Amane (it was an anonymous complaint, but L wasn't going to tolerate the NPA keeping any information from him) over a stalker was the key. Apparently he attacked her near Odaiba's bus station. She also described the man appearance. And truth to word, they found a corpse in the street that belonged to the man supossedly attacked Amane, dead by a heart attack according to the autopsy.

Even more so, the officer asked Amane if she was alone in the moment of the attack. Amane seemed uncomfortable for a moent, and she settled for a no. Unfortunately for her, teh cameras in the street captured the man, lying on the floor, a figure that was unmistakebly Misa, and a second woman. The cameras were too far to have a clear view. In the video he could saw the unidentified woman and the attacker "talking", then he dropped to the floor, and Misa ran to her, they talked, then both women got inside a bus.

So why Amane would hide that someone was with her in the moment of the attack, specially when that person was attacked too? Watari spoke to the driver of that bus,and while he wasn't much help, he confirmed that he saw another girl with Amane: " _You don't really pay attention in anything outside the street at those hours, but I definitely remember two damn good looking gals like those ones"_

Amane spent that day in To Ho Studio, and while Yori, the guide in charge of Amane and her friends wasn't around due to a family emergency, a fellow guide told them that she saw Amane with two girls, and the younger one left earlier, leaving Misa with that girl. When asked from a description, she told them that they were teenagers with dark brown hair, one of them with liquid gold eyes. When L himself (under a fake ID) requested a spoken retrait based on the lady's description, the result was a drawing of two girls that closely resembled Sayu and Light Yagami.

Of course, a lousy video of a security camera and a spoken portrait weren't anything to brag about, but it was _something_. After weeks of spying the Yagami girls, he came to the conclusión that they were simply observant girls, observant enough to uncover an incompetent agent as Penber. But now...

He saw the books sprawled over the table. Recommended books for the To-Oh University's exam. He was **eager** to meet Light face to face, to know what was what he found so interesting about her...

He already had something in mind for Sayu too.

* * *

It was the middle of the night and Light was awoken by a small weight dropping on her hands. Groggily opening the leyes, she quickly snapped out her sleepiness when she saw what was on her hands. Her Death Note. How she could be so careless to let her notebook around? Or maybe Ryuk did it as some kind of stupid joke.

But with a closer peek, she noticed something; helped by street lamppost's light lighting her room. Her killer notebook had the words "Death Note" written in standard English, not Hiragana syllabary. This was **not** her Death Note. In a hurry she turned the lights on, that iluminated a monstruous being at the border of her bed, around 2.5 mts, with a disproportionate skeletal body. Purple worm-like locks hanging off the head and a patch covering one of the creatures' serpentine eyes.  

"I am the Shinigami Rem, and that" the shinigami pointed to the notebook on her hands "is your new Death Note"

Light looked at Ryuk, who was hiding around her closet, waiting for some sort of explanation. 

Ryuk just  _laughed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course it's Misa the one to ruin Light's plans XD
> 
> Light has been very careful in this fic, except for the whole Raye Penber thing, but even that was chalked up to Light and Sayu (although Sayu didn't know anything was up until Light told her so) being too observant. Maybe Light should have told Misa that her father was a cop and that he was going to take care of things, so Misa could keep her mouth shut. But doing that means no more story :( 
> 
> *ToHo Studios, a film studio founded in 1932, responsable of the creation of Godzilla.
> 
> Maybe some of you are surprised by Ryuk helping Light, but in canon Ryuk isn't opposed to help Light in occasions ( keeping Sidoh out of his way, finding cameras for him) Besides I'm still unsure in how portray their relationship here. An indiferent, I-will--kill-you-if-you-bore-me Ryuk as canon, or a more caring one? So if anyone has suggestions...
> 
> Sayu and Light are in L' suspects list, but is Light the one who sets his warning bells off.
> 
> Next chapter: Light and L finally meet!


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New players in the game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.
> 
> Recommendation: Read the first part of this chapter hearing Rem's theme

_Flashback_

_The Shinigami Realm was a lonely place who seemed almost endless in its colorless, grey shades. Existed some rumors about the Shinigami Realm being a luscious, exuberant place, befitting for Gods living there, but even if they were true, it had been a long time ago, with only ruins and dust as decoration._

_Rem wandered around the Realm,looking for everything and nothing at the same time. The dust covered her eyes sometimes, and when her eyes finally cleared, more dust came to her eyes. She never sought the company of her fellow shinigamis. Most of them were lazy, and spent their senseless lifes gambling._

_One day, Rem found another Shinigami, whom like her, wasn't interested in meaningless gambling games. Unlike most Shinigami, this one had just one wing instead of two, but he preferred to use his solo wing to travel around. Rem accompained him, and together they raced the Shinigami Realm. Despiste everything around them being so desolate Rem enjoyed those moments with Gelus, how the limitated air in the realm hitting them in the face, the feeling of competition. It was something that Rem couldn't never forget._

_After some time, she found Gelus watching the human world from a crystal patch close to the cavern he called home._

_"She is beautiful, isn't she?"_

_Throught the crystal pit it could observed a very young woman, with shiny brown hair, bright amber eyes, and an enchanting smile. He was right, she was beautiful._

_"Yes"_

_Since that moment, Gelus started to watch that human every day. He still played with Rem, but now most of the hours of his inmortal life were spend in watching that human._

_Many years after, in an occasion Rem found Gelus quite sad._

_" What happened?"_

_Gelus signaled to the crystal patch, where the human girl was holding a Death Note._

_"How did she got a Death Note?"_

_"Ryuk gave it to her"_

_"Ryuk?"_

_So Gelus started to narrate everything that had happened in her ausence._

_"You should have done the same thing as Ryuk, drop a Death Note in the human world, maybe that way you could already met her"_

_Gelus negated with the head. Rem didn't understand. Humans who come into contact with a Shinigami were cursed to a life of misery. That's why he never meet his love, because he knew that such affections were forbidden, that he only could look her from a distance. It was a detached admiration, only permited throught a crystal patch. And when you love someone, you want to see them happy, even from a distance, even if said person never knows about your existence nor your feelings._

_Gelus continued to watch the girl, more intently than before. He was wary of Ryuk. He knew that Shinigami too well, he knew that he could be twisted, and even if until that moment he hadn't done anything bad to Light, his mere company was a bad omen for his love._

_Bad omen no doubt._

_A rainy afternoon the girl was promenading around with another human, and both of them encountered a man._

_Gelus could only saw in frozen fear how that man intended to hurt his love._

_"Calm down Gelus" Rem posed her hand in his shaking houlder " her time isn't up yet"_

_However everytime that the man tried to attack his love, at every attatck of his, her lifespan variated, fluctuating from dropping to mere digits, to coming back to what it once was.*_

_Gelus saw how her lifespan got the biggest drop of the night, and he couldn't stand anymore! He didn't hear Rem's cries, too busy scribbling the name, and only got back to his senses after that..._

_He was going to die._

_Rem was heartbroken, watching how her friend was disappearing at her eyes. And in a desperate attempt to hold herself to him, she tried to grasp his vanishing form._

_Too late. Gelus was no more. And the only proof of his existence was the Death Note in the ground, with moisty pages due to the tears of his last moments, and the past tears of an imposible romance._

_Gelus was no more. But it existed one thing Rem could do for him. The Shinigami pressed Gelus' Death Note to her chest. While Shinigami didn't have the heart organ, their chest were warmer than the rest of their cold bodies. Who knows? Perhaps that warmness was a representation of their souls._

_Rem decided to go to the Infinite Staircase, a maelstrom of light symbolizing the end of the Shinigami realm._

_The barrier between the Human World and the Shinigami Realm_

* * *

_Present day_

 "So a Shinigami can die for love" Light whispered in awe after Rem finished her tale " _Quite poetic_ "

"Yes. Gelus died to save you"

Light passed her hands over her new Death Note, _"A Shinigami can die for love"_ It was a very interesting piece of information, but she wasn't sure how useful it could be to her. Although she was well aware of her charms, she doubted they could work in someone like Ryuk... or Rem....

"Why are you here Rem?"

The Shinigami seemed taken aback by her question "Gelus asked me to keep a eye on you"

"To protect me"

"Yes"

"So you don't love me?"

The shinigami snarled at her "You think am I that easy to kill"

 _"Damn, I played my cards too fast"_ "Just checking" Light replied with a playful smirk. 

" **Don't think I would ever fall in love with you Light-Oh"** Ryuk said trying to look like he was warning her, but in reality he just butted in the conversation because he was feeling ignored.

Neither female in the room paid attention to him. Ryuk sweat dropped.  

"This is Gelus' Death Note right? And since you picked it, you were its new owner, and now that you give it to me, I'm the new owner, and you will be haunting me like Ryuk does?" 

"That's correct"

"I see. Any kind of addictions or obsession that I should know about? Ryuk here is addicted to the apples"

" * _ **Liuk* Apples. Yummy"**_

"Shinigami don't require substance to live. I have no interest in food or sleep" 

"There is something else that you would want to tell me Rem?" " _Others_   _ways to kill a Shinigami perhaps?_ " 

"Nothing comes to my mind"

"Okay. Good night _Rem" she_ pronounced her name in a mocking way that the Shinigami found offensive

" _Foolish girl, I could kill her any time I want"_

She wouldn't do it of course, because that girl was Gelus' big love, the one for whom he literally died for. She wouldn't hurt her, she was the last thing that connected her to her fallen friend.  

But she wouldn't help her either. Gelus just told her to protector her from Ryuk, since that amoral Shinigami was capable of anything just to have his fun. And that was what she was going to do. No more. No less. 

Light feigned sleep, but her mind was railing " _I_ _don't think she likes me, but the way she talked about Gelus, she definitely loved him. She may not love me, but she is capable of love and care. I can use that to my favor"_

* * *

 "I know you don't need it, but good luck!"

"Remember to eat you bento before the exam! Do your best!"

"I honestly don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this"

Light honestly didn't. Passing your college entrance exam in Japan was like a milestone, but for her, passing those exams was slighty harder than the table of nine. The bonus of being a genius with a near eidetic memory.

"Light!"

Yuri and Yamamoto were sitting in a fountain close the entrance gates of To-Oh.

"Hey guys! You are going to the exam too?"

Yuri whined "Ugh yes. I will be lucky if I pass. My parents are going to put me in college anyways, probably in Gakushuin, but my dad wanted me to try this test just in case"

"Ahh. Oh well, I didn't know that you will be here Yamamoto. I though you will be skipping college and directly apply for the NPA"

"Well, you never asked. Okay, not really, I thought a degree can increase my chance to get a high position within the NPA"

"Uh uh" Light wouldn't be surprised if the only reason (or at least one of the reasons) that Yamamoto was applying for To-OH was because she was applying for it too. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if he was going for the same degree as her.

"You there! Hurry up! Exam starts in ten minutes!" said a profesor watching them since the gates

Light waved a hand carelessly "It's okay. I hate to wait for my exams" 

_**"Hyuk, confident are we?** _

After the former classmates bid their goodbyes, all of them got to their respective classrooms where they will be taking the exam. Yuri and Yamamoto were in classroom 108 B, and Light in the 115 N.

You may begin!"

Light eyed the exam. They had two hours to complete the exam, but she knew that she could finish it in 45 minutes, so she wasn't in any hurry.

The fat proctor in charge stared angrily at something behind her "Student 162! Sit properly in your chair"

Automatically Light turned back to see one of the strangest, if not the strangest person she had ever seen. Wild and thick hair where no comb had ever ventured before, a plain white, long-sleeved shirt, baggy jeans and sneakers which seemed to have seen better days.

But the most striking thing about him were his eyes. Near-impossible wide, and with thick bags underneath them, they were inmensely black, with some filaments of silver in it.

Their gazes crossed each other: his endless pits of ink against her warm amber orbs. She was sure that he had never seen him before but he seemed to be staring back at her. 

Light broke their eye contact first. His gaze unnerved her. She tried to focus on her exam, she was taking more time in her answers that she would need, just to avoid looking back at him, at that creepy guy who probably was still looking at her.

She hastily put her exam in the proctor' desk, not looking back in purpose. But when she reached the exit, her eyes were dragged back to the place where that guy was.

He was gone.

* * *

  _ **"Ohh, you're a college girl now. I don't know. I'm kind of proud"**_

Light gave Ryuk a funny look. To-Oh Ceremony Entrance was one of the most selective events for a student to be. Light thought about going dressed in a professional businesswoman suit, but at the end she decided for a traditional red and white Kimono, and her hair pulled in a simple _Osuberakashi_. As the student with perfect scores, She was going to be the freshman representative and she was going to said the speech.

Or at least, one of the representatives.

Apparently someone else got perfect scores in the entrance exam. She was so curious about said person. She had never tied with anyone before.

"The freshman representative: Light Yagami"

_**"Uhh, Wow!"** _

"And freshman representative Hideki Ryuga"

The class went wild at hearing that name.

"Hideki Ryuga?"

"Oh God it's him!" a girl in the second line screamed 

"No way that guy has the brains to get into a school like To-Oh" a guy of the back sentenced

And he was right. The Hideki Ryuga they knew about wasn't capable. But this guy wasn't him. Tall and lanky, pale as a ghost, dressed in a plain white shirt...He was...

_"This is the same guy who was chastised for sitting oddly on his desk"_

Both of them were standing next to each other. The contrast between them it was almost comical. An attractive, prim girl dressed in a conservative fashion, and the guy who apparently crawled out of his bed and died. The rest of students seemed to agree so.

Light started her speech

" _Dear peers, now we have started a new age in our lifes. Gone are the innocent days of out childhood, the laid back days of our teenage years. Now we have embarked in the first step to our adulthood, when we leave behind the  mildness that until now we have lived, and getting into the deceitful reality of life. Here we are, because we want to make a difference, that our existences serve as a example to future generations. Just like the previous generations had inspired us, generations who passed for worse situations than us and came out of them. Not unscathed, but with the head high. And our mission is to take their example and go a step beyond, to make our world a better place, and what better way that start since the classroom, polishing our minds for the future, and to be prepared for it. Thank you"_

The claps were intantaneus and plenteous. Then the second freshman representatives started his own speech, dangling a blank piece of paper in frontera of his face.

_"Lovely speech. Now I do agree with my fellow freshman representative here. Probably many of you think that these things we are saying are just staying in simple words, that when you graduate, offers are going to be raining upon you. Well, that may be true, since the low birth rate is decreasing Japan's productive poblation, forcing the new generation to graduate fast to work and provide for the elder generation. So I suppose one of our mission is to find a way so our country doesn't sink in a demographic disaster, probably provoked by the detachment that technology leads, and the blatant sexism that Japan practices. It's amazing that despite its boast as being one of the most advanced countries in the planet, Japan still hadn't erased such social retardment."_

Light and many of the women in the room blinked at that.

_"As a way to keep myself in fit shape to study, I eat sweets. I  believe that it's one of the reasons why I managed to earn the highest scores in the entrance xams, aside of the fact that I'm smart, smarter than most of you I may add. So eat sweets, so your minds can keep in tick tock shape. Or don't, since I don't think that most of you use you brains enough to burn the calories and not get fat or adquire diabetes. Thank you"_

Only a pair of shy claps sounded, that quickly died at the unorthodox and offensive speech.

The principal hesitated for a sec  "Uhhhh....so a big applause for our two brightest students!"

Light did a graceful bow. Ryuga just scratched his head.

As the two freshman representatives, their seats were together. Light got off the stage to her seat, feeling the man's eyes burning a hole on her head _"What's his problem?"_

She thought that when they sat , he was going to stop his annoying staring, since she could see him. But he didn't. He sat, not, he didn't sit. He _crouched_ , with one hand resting on his knee and the thumb of his other hand rubbing his lips.

**_"Duhh, He seems to like you! Hyuk Hyuk"_ **

Light tried to pay attention to the boring ceremony, but she couldn't, not with corner of her eyes catching the image of the man watching her. He wasn't watching her with lust, but with curiosity, like she was a bug waiting to be studied. And fascination, like she was an explosion of shooting stars. It was a strange sensation that made Light's insides squirm.

 Finally having enough of it, she turned to him "What are you watching me so much?" She wasn't used to be so blunt, but that man was grating on her nerves

"Nothing. That was a good speech, that's all" he complimented/ answered her "Not too optimist, but no too pessimistic either."

"Thanks...I wish I could say the same about yours, but I would be lying"

He hid a smirk "It's fine. My aim was to be honest, not be popular"

"Yes, after that speech I hardly think you will be popular."

He bit his thumb " I  suppose so"

In an attempt to keep the awkward conversation going, Light continued "So, for real? Hideki Ryuga? That's your name?"

Ugh, what was wrong with her? She usually was far more suave than that.

"Yes, Strange isn't it?

"No it's fine. I don't think you are the first person to share a name with a famous person. Light Yagami" she finished extending her right hand to him

 He stared "I already know who you are"

"Well, I don't think that hearing my name being screamed in the stage is a proper presentation. And it's good etiquette to offer a hand in salute, but if you don't want it..."

Apparently deciding that her logic was valid, he grabbed her hand. Light smiled, gripping his hand with great firmness  "Light Yagami. Nice to meet you"

He returned her handshake with equal firmness "Hideki Ryuga. Nice to meet you too"

* * *

In Sayu's opinion, Yato Matsumoto was the most handsome boy in her class. Not Hideki Ryuga, but still, seeing him caused her a sensation of butterflies in her stomach. And to her luck, this morning he had called her to meet her at a small coffee shop in Shibuya. He had invited her to a date!

Now Sayu was waiting for him in said place. It was noon so all the tables were occupied. At that time a woman in grey leggings, boots and leather jacket sat at the same table as her.

"Excuse me miss, but this seat is taken. I'm waiting for my boyfriend" Yato wasn't her boyfriend _yet_ , but hopefully at the end of the evening he would be.

"Do not worry, I'll go as your date arrives, I just need a place to sit down to check my email," she replied as she pulled out her laptop

"Fine"

After a couple of minutes Sayu started to feel something. Discomfort. The woman had just claimed to want to see her email, she had the impression that it was not really that (she had not moved her eyes from the same spot in the screen in almost 5 minutes) and Yato did not arrive yet. The woman closed her laptop and smiled at her "Sayu Yagami, are you the daughter of the head of the NPA, Soichiro Yagami, your mother is Sachiko Yagami, and your sister Light Yagami?"

 _"What?" "_ What? Are you a stalker or what?

"I'm not a stalker. And I assure you that I will not hurt you"

 _"Like hell."_  "I'm out of here"

"I would not do that if I were you" the woman replied somberly with her eyes glued in her own lap. Sayu followed her sight and her breath stayed in one side of her throat, seeing the gleaming gun hidden under the glass table, pointing to one of her legs. Sayu looked around and saw that the cafeteria was now almost empty, and the few people around seemed to pointedly ignore her current situation. The blonde woman at the bar looked at her and winked.

 _Now_ she understood: the fact that no table was unoccupied when this woman arrived, the sudden lack of clients (basically leaving her alone), that Yato had not arrived yet ... None of it was coincidence.

"Who the fuck are you?" Sayu fearfully whispered, not really expecting an answer.

The woman smiled as if that question was awaited, as if what she was about to say was a great joke.

" **I am L"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments.
> 
> That dialogue between L and Light was so cringe-worthy *sigh*
> 
> *It's never explained how lifespans work in the DN universe. For example,if Ryuk had never dropped the DN/Light never became Kira, Light would have still died at the same date, just in a different way? 
> 
> Misa's lifespan was elongated due to Gelus and Rem' sacrifices. Even if she cut her lifespan in half (twice!), even if Gelus and Rem' lifespans were small since they were very compassionate beings (so they probably didn't kill many humans) I think the years given to Misa should have been longer than the short 6 extra years she lived. By committing suicide, she put an end to her long lifespan by her own will. 
> 
> So I don't think lifespans are predestinated by Fate or inmmobiles in the DN 'verse. More like every human has a natural lifespan, but said lifespan is prone to changes by choices, decisions, lifestyles and circumstances.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two meetings, one confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has to be like my worst chapter to date. Sorry, I guess I'm terrible writing L's POV
> 
> English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes

"Don't you think we should tell the Task Force about this before proceeding?" Naomi doubtfully asked.

 "They are going to try to stop me, and I have no patience for that" L replied, and after a beat "I trust I have your entire cooperation right?"

 "Of course, but what would be your excuse to them about you not being present in the next reunion? "

 "They will be entertained with dead leads and some of my own early theories about the Kira case. In fact right now they are reading about a newly-created product, only available in the black market: a psycotropic drug which effects are so powerful for the nervous system that most of its victims end up suffering heart attacks just 2 minutes after consuming it"

"Wow. Which drug is that?"

L sipped a bit of his extremely candied tea. "None, it doesn't exist. I wrote that report about a fictious drug to keep them busy for the time being"

 Naomi shook her head with mirth "Ah-ha"

"Now let's review our current plan" 

After L had obtained the new evidence (meager as it would be) against Sayu and Light Yagami, he decided to keep it as a secret for the Task Force, at least until he had already made contact with Sayu and Light, because at that point it would be no backpedaling. Nonetheless he confided in Naomi about his new discoveries. She agreed with him, even if she was a bit wary about going behind the backs of her colleagues. But she was in L's side, first and foremost. L knew he had made a good decision recruiting her. 

At the beginning Naomi thought about putting surveillance cameras and bugs in the Yagami household again. But L quickly dismissed the idea.

"It's probably that we missed something, anything, in those tapes" she had said

"I'm 98% sure that that we didn't" Even after they took out the surveillance equipment, L himself reviewed those tapes, precisely in the (unlikely) case they actually missed something. There was nothing suspicious. Absolutely nothing.

So instead of putting surveillance cameras, L* hacked both Sayu and Light Yagami's cellphones, to spy on their conversations and find a moment in which to corner them

However that wasn't a problem for L. To-Oh's Entrance Ceremony was going to take place in April 2th, and L was going to be there, as Hideki Ryuga, the genius who obtained perfect scores in the entrance exams, alongside Light Yagami of course. That point was more important that it seemed, because Light Yagami was the top scorer student in all Japan, so a bright student would have a easier time blending into her social circle. He was going to present himself as L too.

Naomi was very worried, she thought that such a move was too risky, but he wasn't having none of it. He was going to keep an eye in his likeliest suspect, in a way that she wouldn't be able to touch him. 

_Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer._

That same April 2th, Sayu Yagami agreed on a date with a boy of her class, in Yorokobi, a small coffe shop in Shibuya. With her cellphone hacked, L, posing as Sayu, sent a message to Sayu's date, telling him that she was not gonna make it. Buy the coffe shop was easy (ah, the advantages of being a billionaire detective) Naomi was going to  present herself as L, and do an extensive interrogation on Sayu, in order to corrobate her guilt or her innocence. L was 98% that Sayu Yagami wasn't Kira*, his gut told him so. But he needed to be sure and he trusted Naomi to do that job.

* * *

It was strange, L realized, to walk towards an university, like a regular person. L had never set foot in a formal educational institution before. He learned his first letters autodidactically, and after that he was homeschooled for all his formative years.

He was in the farthest seat he could find, and watched Light Yagami thanks to a pair of binoculars he brought with him. He ignored the students around him, giving him shocked looks.

His alias produced quite a fuss in the ceremony, confusing him with Hideki Ryuga the Pop Star. Exactly what he was aiming for. Kira needed a name and a face to kill, and Light could guess that "Hideki Ryuga" was nothing but an alias, so if Light really was the culprit, she wouldn't try anything out of the risk of killing the real Hideki Ryuga. L didn't want to die, but if after this gamble he died, he instructed Watari and Misora to assume that Light was Kira

He looked at Light Yagami while she was giving her speech. He took notes in her facial features. Smooth chin, small ears, high cheekbones and a button nose. Her brown hair was pulled in an Osuberakashi  loose ponytail, and her eyes were bright amber, like the gemstone. Well, not like the gemstone actually, more like a burning, caramel amber...

L already had a script. He was going to present himself as L. The perfect insurance to defend and attack. But instead of that, he stayed quiet, burning a hole in her suspect's head, like waiting for the perfect moment to open his mouth.

"Why are you watching me so much?"

Apparently he wasn't being subtle in his staring too. L blinked and spat some shallow words. Then Light extended her hand to him, presenting herself as Light Yagami (they already knew each other's names, but according to her, a proper greeting was more sociable acceptable) and instead of using that opportunity to present himself as L, he choked his rehearsed words and presented himself as Hideki Ryuga.

Why? Why? He was supposed to tell her about him being L, but everytime he tried, his words just didn't come out his mouth. He had never revealed himself to someone, even less a suspect, _like this._

They spent the rest of the boring ceremony in silence, with L pondering about his actions. Starting a conversation with her and tell her that he was L seemed absurd at that point. And to be honest, he really didn't want it too.

The ceremony didn't end soon enough, in L's opinion. He practically jumped out of his seat, getting outside to impatiently wait for Watari. Light Yagami came out after, she chatted with some people, and when she turned her head they spotted each other. She smiled at him and started to get closer to him, probably to say goodbye. L pocketed his clammy hands inside his faded jeans

Just when she was almost in front of him, Watari's Rolls Royce Phantom V parked in front of them, opening the door for him. Light eyes widened a bit, probably surprised at this display of unexpected wealth. The thought made him feel a bit smug for some reason.

"Well, see you in campus" he awkwardly said, the smugness didn't last long

"Yeah take care" and she did another respectful bow. He tried to return her courtesy, but he only ended doing a very strange curved position, a mockery of a proper bow. Light's mouth twisted in an odd smile. 

Both were being oblivious to the comments of the peanut gallery.

"Man, rich and top of the class?"

"Feel your pain dude. Where is the justice?"  That comment was pretty ironic, seeing to exactly whom it was directed.

"Gosh, and have you looked at the other freshman representative. What the hell is she doing here when she could make all the money of the world as a supermodel?"

L's whole body relaxed in the comfort of his limousine. It had been way too long since he was around so many people. There was the Task Force, but they were a pretty small group who were aware of his identity, and his relationship with them was strictly business. L was an great liar and a good actor, but there was no way to hide the discomfort from himself.

"So, how was it?" Watari started conversationally from the wheel.

L didn't inmediately answer. His eyes were watching Light Yagami's dimishing figure from the rear glass. And an idea came to his mind.

" Miss Yagami is a very smart woman with a strong sense of justice. I believe that she is Kira, but even if she isn't, she could assist us with the investigation. And I think I can get close to her to achive either goal" And that was the truth. He definitely could work with this.

This was good. Better than his original plan even. Revealing himself as L was a good strategy, but  Light always would be with her shields up, careful to never slip around him. But as plain Hideki Ryuga, her trustworthy, intellectual friend who may or may not be a Kira supporter,  she could be more laidback and let her guard down.

And it would be at that moment, when L **would**  attack.

* * *

 Sayu had a bad habit of laughing during stressful situations. Right now she sounded like a hyena, feeling shitless scared and totally stupid but she couldn't stop. 

Naomi didn't take offense at that. She knew that Sayu's laugh wasn't because she was making fun of her, more like an abrupt reflex produced by nerves. She was pointing a gun to her knee after all, a lot of people would react in the exact same way.

To be fair, she also didn't have the energy to take offense, busy trying to cram her bile down her throat. Pointing a gun at Sayu was bringing memories, memories of that 13-years-old drug dealer, the one she wasn't able to shoot all these years ago. He was 13, but he looked 10. The gun he was holding was bigger than hers. He was...He was so young... 

_"Keep it together Misora. Don't waste brain cells over stupid things from the past"_

When Sayu finally controlled her laughter, the reality of her situations dropped back to her like a bag of rocks. She was being holding hostage (despite the face she was in a public place, with a bunch of strangers purposely ignoring  her, and a wacko presenting herself as L.

The wacko was armed too. 

"You must be joking"

Naomi smiled. She was ready to face incredulity. " Don't you believe me?"

"No"

"Why"

Andthat was actually a very good question. There was no reason why this woman  _couldn't_  be L, but come on, she really expected her to _just_ believe her?

"The real L would never present in public"

"Are you sure?" Naomi replied cheekily

" And certainly L would never present to a common high schooler as myself" Sayu kept going.

" Normally that would be true, but when that common high schooler is a Kira suspect, exceptions are made"

_What????????"_

Sayu chuckled again, but this time her laugh, although shaky, was more controlled and mocking " Me, Kira?" Are you serious?"

" My percentage of suspicions towards you is quite low, but yes you are under suspicion of being Kira" Naomi was enjoying a bit the situation too. She was trying to simulate L' speech manners, (including his weird custom of spouting percentages) and it was very entertaining.

" You aren't L. L is the best detective of the world. L would never thought something so ridiculous as me being Kira"

"If you really aren't  Kira, I think you wouldn't be opposed to me doing some questions to you, to assure myself that you really aren't Kira. Well I don't think you have a choice anyway" she said redirecting her eyes to the gun still pointing to Sayu's knee. The girl was getting too comfy, and Naomi needed to remind her who was in charge here.

The girl swallowed and nodded, remembering that she just laughed at a woman whose gun was pointing at her. Not the smartest thing, she let herself go with the woman (L?) being so nice and mild-mannered with her. Sayu's eyes widened when she saw the blonde woman who had winked to her, getting a small device out her purse, and tying her fingers with cables connected to that thing.

"My bad. I forgot to tell you that all questions are going to be under a lie detector"

Naomi proceeded to ask a serie of specific questions*, formulated by L himself, answers included. Sayu responded them favorably. So, just as L and Naomi suspected, she wasn't Kira. But Naomi wasn't going to let her know that.

"So did I pass? I mean I passed to test of not being Kira?" Sayu stuttered nervously. After that interrogatory, Sayu was almost sure that the woman in front of her was really L.

"More or less, but you're still under my eye" Naomi looked her straight at the eyes. Time to put the big boys' gloves on. "Sayu Yagami, you and your sister were involved in the uncovering of a secret FBI investigation"

"What are you talking about?"

"You and your sister accused a man of being stalking you two. Isn't true?"

"Yes?"

"Well, that man you accussed was one of the FBi agents assigned to said secret investigation, one that involved the Kira case. He was in charge of spying your family, since the FBI was investigating the families of high ranking NPA officers, since the FBI suspects that Kira has connections to the Japanese Police"

"I didn't...I didn't know that"

"Really?" Nasomi asked skeptically, even if she was sure that Sayu was telling the true. Her body language told her so. Naomi had made enough interrogations to know that.

"Yes"

"And your sister did?"

Sayu licked her lips nervously, remembering that day, she and her sister in the Police station, how she left earlier than Light, because Light telling her that she need to go home because Mom surely was worried, and when Light and Dad finally came home together, and Sayu asked them about the "stalker" Light responded that he was going to be apprended quite soon. Light didn't appear any different, Dad was very shifty-eyed, but she thought that was just his worry produced by a stranger stalking his daughters. She didn't think more of that.

"I don't know"

"Tell me, how did you noticed that that man was stalking you?"

" I saw him outside the gates of my school. I thought he was a father of something. When I came home, my sister had a pciture of him..."

"Wait, you sister had a picture of R..the agent?" Nami's heart almost stopped at her amateur slip, thankkully Sayu seemed too unsettled to notice it.

"Yes... then I told her that I had seen him before, in my school. Then Light blanched and told me that that man was a stalker. The next morning we both went to the Police station"

"And when did she see the agent?"

"In a busjacking, in fact she told Dad that she suspected that he was involved in it because Dad said that the NPA hadn't no information about busjackings"

Naomi drank her mocha. Nothing that Sayu was telling her was new. Apparently Light Yagami didn't ommit anything to the NPA. Nothing was new,  _except_  the fact that Light was the first one to notice Ryae following them. In fact, Sayu seemed to not having thought a thing about him until Light told her so. That itself didn't prove anything, just that Light was a very, very observant girl. But explained L's focus on her.

But now they had a little more evidence

"Sayu, where were you past Saturday?"

" I went to To-Ho studios with my sister and a friends of hers"

"How long where you with them?"

"Until past noon. My mother told me that I needed to came back earlier, that I needed to give Light space with her friends. I came back to home I stayed there all day"

"And when did your sister came back to home?"

"Almost 11:00 PM, I think"

Naomi smiled. The results of the autopsy performed in Ryotaro Sakajo* (that was the name of Misa' stalker, his body was identified by his daughter) showed that his death occurred at around 9PM of that Saturday. The distance between Odaiba and the Yagami's home in Musashi Kosugo was like two hours by car. Based in that time interval, it was highly possible that  the unidentified girl in the grainy video from the security cameras in the street was Light.

"And she was with Misa?"

"I don't...know"

"Well, I think you should watch this" Naomi told her, passing her laptop to her. The screen was replaying the video from the security cameras in Odaiba, showing the unidentified girl (probably Light) facing off Misa' stalker, and then she and Misa chatted for a bit before a bus whisked them off.

"That was Misa-Misa" Sayu stated calmly, but her face was pale.

"Yes, that man there was a stalker who intended to kill Misa"

"And she is okay?" Sayu asked worriedly. 

"She is. As you can see, the cameras were too far way to get a clear view of anyone except Misa Amane, but given our findings and your testimony, my team and I have reasons to think that the girl in this video was your sister Light Yagami"

"Uh, looks a bit like her...I guess" Sayu muttered dumbly.

Naomi sighed, this was it. The moment of truth.

"And the man who dropped to the floor in the video? He is dead. By heart attack"

Sayu stared blankly at her, until the meaning of her words finally hit her. Her body got still at the insinuation. Accusing **her** was bad enough. They also suspected that. _.._

They believed that her sister, of all people, was Kira.

* * *

Beyond wasn't expecting any visits today. In fact, most days he wasn't expecting one. Most of his social interactions involved L, the very few times he dignified himself to grant him with his non glorious presence, Watari, who sometimes came to give him some luxury items and look at  him with a bit of pity and repulsion in his eyes (as he needed the pity of a man who basically picked orphans to treat them as his experiments) and his handler, a buff man around 2 mts with enormous muscles and a full sized Glock 17 on his pants...

When he heard the door of his cell open, he was sure it was either his handler or Watari, since L was busy with cases about extremist, heart-attack based vigilantes. So he was surprised with the person  in front of him, to whom he hadn't seen in a very long time. In fact, it was been so long, that it took him a minute to fully recall her. The stilletos, the moisty and creamy lipstick, not a hair out of place. It had been a long time, but her face hardly changed.

"K*, I'm speechless. What are you doing here? And how did you find me?"

"The only people who know about this prison is L, Watari, Roger, the two employees L keeps here, and the first generation. And at this point, the only ones left of that generation are you, me, and L... Well, maybe Z is around somewhere..."

Beyond grinned sadistically, showing his yellow teeth covered with strawberry jam. K shuddered in disgust.

"Not a social visit right?"

"You really are the second best detective. Or wait, more like the fifth, since L is both Eraldo Coil and Deneuve too. And A was always a step  _beyond_ you right?" she snidely replied.

He had forgotten how bitchy Kujo was. He entertained the fantasy of strangling her neck, to see her stuck-up exterior transform into a blubbering mess. He smirked. What a pleasant image.

" You certainly enjoy insulting me. Besides that, what else do you want to do?"

"I have a proposition to you"

Beyond raised an eyebrow "Which is it?"

K, as usual, went straight to the point "I can get you out of this place" 

Beyond wanted to laugh "You really think you can do that? Wait a sec, why are you speaking about something like that here?" he said looking at the cameras in the cell, filming every move, every word of his.

"Don't worry, I already took care of that" she grinned cryptically looking at the cameras too "I'm more interested in your answer"

Beyond rolled his eyes " What do you think my answer will be? Of course I accept. Are we leaving now?" he said eyeing at the closed door

Kujo denied with the head "I'm afraid not. I have business to attend. But I would be breaking you out of here in a few months. You have my word"

"Sure" Beyond sarcastically agreed. But despite himself, he couldn't help but feel the rush at the idea of finally be free. "But I never thought you, of all people, would be willing to stab L in the back. Whatever you want to do must be extremely important to you. So what's the catch?"

Refreshingly enough, K didn't try to hide the fact that she wasn't breaking him out of prison out of the goodness of her heart " I need you to help me with something"

"Help you in what?"

"In finding Kira. Catching Kira. Before L does"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *No idea if L is a hacker or not in canon, but hey, he learned to fly a helicopter out of the fucking nowhere. So yeah.
> 
> *Many of you probably wonder why L (well, Naomi actually) confronts Sayu if L doesn't really suspect Sayu. In the manga, while L was confronting Light, Mogi confronted Kitamura's daughter, claiming to be L. Since Sayu ratted Raye out and was with her sister the day Misa's stalker died, L has more reasons to suspect Sayu than Kitamura's daughter in canon (he probably only did it to appease the Task Force) He not believing her to be Kira is something of a gut instint. He relies in a lot of those in canon (to be fair with him though, his instints are usually right)
> 
> *When L met the Task Force for the first time, L did a series of questions (off screen) to assure that none of them were Kira. The questions Naomi asked Sayu were a modified version of those questions. I wanted to write the interrogatory... but I don't have the intelligence to create those questions...
> 
> *In the manga/anime Misa's stalker has no name, but in DN live-action movies he is given the name of Ryotaro Sakajo.
> 
> *K/Kimiko Kujo doesn't exist in DN manga/anime, she is a character created for DN live-action movies too. A former alumni from Wammy's and a bio terrorist obsessed with cleansing the world, a lot like Poison Ivy from the Batman Mythos
> 
> And if someone someone didn't get why L chickened out of telling Light that he is L, it's due to a combination between being fascinated by her, and not being accustomed to telling anyone about his real identity. Also it was a cop out to get L to not reveal anything to Light, by narrative purposes... It's not love...yet


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Classes and desks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically a load of word vomit...
> 
> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

"We have not found anything about the psychotropic drug that kills only minutes after consuming it, but we found a lot of information about a strong avalanche of contrabandist and drug traffickers. According to our research, most of the drugs illegally intercepted in Japan in the last months come from Singapore, Vietnam, China, Russia, among others." Soichiro Yagami exposed, with his voice firm and well-modulated.

L nodded "I see, Kira obviously must have a lot of money and influence to buy such product, in addition to contacts with the Police from different parts of the world to obtain information about criminals and suspects"

"I do not see why a billionaire would be interested in killing all the criminals in the world" Ukita commented while looking to the pile of papers laid on the night table.

"Maybe it's megalomania, Kira may not believe himself to be some kind of God, but from the moment he decided to take the Law by his hands, it is obvious that he thinks he has the right to shape the world the way he wants" 

"Well, if Kira is someone rich, with connections and a lot of influence, it is obvious that he must have acccomplices" 

"Yes, that's why I suspect his connections are in the police of different countries. After all, many policemen have low wages, so an anonymous benefactor bribing them with  money to exchange information like a good deal to me" L  manifested between bites of his favorite chocolate cake.

Matsuda smiled and nodded with everything his companions were saying. He was aware that he had not collaborated much to the investigation, so he had no other. His gaze turned to see Shoko Misora. She should be a great agent, to be able to have the respect of the same L. And also that was very nice. Sometimes Matusa entertained the idea of inviting her to go out, but he always cowed. Maybe one day he'd get courage. After all, it was better to ask for a date a well-known work colleague, even if you get rejected, than anyone else. One nights stands obtained in bars weren't Matsuda's style.

But returning his attention to Shoko, he notices her being quite, more so than usual. And she seems angry too. _What?_ Matusa is not brilliant but he is a detective, he can detect emotions. Matsuda is not sure, but she seems to be angry **at** L, if her incensed glaring at the insomatic detective tells him something. For one reason he wants to ask him but he says to himself that this is not the time. Also he doesn't know if it is something personal or not ... that _kind_ of personal maybe? Oh, for the sake of Matsuda's love life, he hopes that's not the case. 

Aizawa twiches a little, obviously uncomfortable at saying what he is about to say, but having no option regardless. "Ryuzaki, I was wondering if we can suspend the gathering. It's almost midnight, and I'd like to see my wife..."

 " I guess we have made enough progress for today. You can retire to your respective homes. In fact I think Watari may be willing to give you a ride" the group of agent smiled gratefully to the elder gentleman " What about you Shoko?"

Shoko, still with that incensed glaring, dryly replied " My room is downstairs, in this same hotel Ryuzaki. Besides I would like to speak with you alone" the last bit was said in a whisper, so the rest of the Task Force wouldn't hear her. L didn't respond, knowing exactly _what_ Noami wanted to talk about.

After Watari left with the rest of the Task Force, only L and Naomi were in the suite. Naomi was quiet, looking through the window, but L could feel the anger stirring away from her.

"Why didn't you tell them?" she finally snapped after a few minutes of silence.

"Tell them what?" L asked, even if he was perfectly aware what she was talking about.

"About you and I making contact with Sayu and Light Yagami. Instead you feed them with some dead leads about a drug being the Kira's murder weapon and some other bullshit" it was obvious she wasn't happy witholding information.

"I was going to tell them. That was the original plan, but since I did not reveal myself as L to Light at the end, I figured it was counterproductive to tell them the truth. I do not think they'd be happy with the idea of me posing as a student in To-Oh, in order to infiltrate Light's social circle and find unfailing evidence of her guilt.

"And you think you can hide this forever? I told Sayu Yagami I was L. It's obvious that she will tell to her father that some random woman pointed a gun at her and told her that she was L!

"But you told me that you told Sayu that she absolutely should keep quiet about your meeting with her"

"I did it, but come on, she's 13! How many 13-years-old _actually_ listen? It's obvious that she must be scared and she'll tell her father!"

"I suppose that if she tells her father, we will have no choice but to tell them that yes, in fact, you met Sayu and you posed as L, in order to obtain evidence against Light, but under no circumstances we will tell you that I _also_ met with Light. After all, Light does not know who I am, and as I said, they would probably find it unethical of me to pose as Light's friend in order to get information about her."

"In her report to the Police, Amane said that she had been attacked _twice_ , but that she managed to get away of her stalker the first time, but he followed her to Odaiba's bus station in the Northwest. However, as this video shows, he attacked the other girl _first_ , and he suddenly collapsed" L signaled while chossing between a cupcake or a cake.

"In the autopsy made to him, his cause of death was a heart attack. And in the testimony Amane gave, she completely omitted that another person was with her in the moment of the attack. As you already know, that wasn't true. The unintified girl in this video it's most probably Light. According to Sayu, Light came to her house around 11:00 PM of that day, and this video was shoot around 9:00 PM of the same day. The distance between her Musagi Kosugo and Odaiba is two hours, give or take it. And Light never told her family anything about she being attacked, of her friend being attacked. So either the girl in the video isn't Light, or she just didn't want anyone to know about it"

 L nodded "Amane's parents were murdered a year ago. And her murderer was left in liberty due to lack of evidence. But he was killed by heart attack during _"Kira's first killing spree"_ Most celebrities are keeping their opinions either pro or against Kira to themselves whetever it's for fear of their lives or fear of ruining their reputations, and Amane isn't exception*, but given her circumstances, it's logical to think that Amane likely support Kira"

_And that's why she left Light out of her testimony._

"But if Amane is a Kira supporter, why she would tell the police all this, she'd know that all that would lead to Kira and Kira's capture? Naomi asked

L chewed his thumb " _Yeah, I have no explanation for that."_ The only explanation I have for it is that Amane somehow didn't know that was dead"

"But he died in front of her!" Naomi yelled looking at the screen replaying the video.

"If Amane didn't know that he was dead, she doesn't know that Light is Kira, it's the only explanation that I can give. Unless Misa doesn't really support Kira, even if she killed her parents' murderer? No impossible. It would take an exceptional person to not support Kira as the ultimate expression of justice after such an act of vengeance and Amane doesn't seem that kind of exceptional. Probably we should speak with her colleages to see if they know her real opinions about Kira, or bring her over for interrogation" L mussed out loud.

It was so frustating that they only had conjectures and no concrete facts. The autopsy made in Ryotaro Sakajo proved that his death was by heart attack, so the forensics team thought there was no need for them to investigate the zone where they found the body. After Amane's complaint, they tried to do a recreation of the possible crime scene, but it was a crowded bus station, so it was already too contaminated to get any conclusive evidence. In the short time the body was available*, not one else's fingerprints were found in his body*. According to Sakajo's daughter, he liked to carry a pocket knife, but such object or another type of weapon wasn't found.

In fact, the only proof they had was the testimony of the bus driver, but it was all very arbitrary, and he had a history of using addictive substances, so his testimony wasn't very useful to the hour to build a more solid case

The worst part? _None_ of this really proved that Light was Kira.

* * *

 " ...The history of Japan is divided in 13 periods: Paleolithic, Jōmon,Yayoi, Kofun, Asuka,Naska, Heian, Kamakura, Muromachi, Azuchi Momoyama, Edo, Meiji,Taishō, Shōwa and Heisei. The first human bones found in Japan date back to 18,000 years ago, however some studies demostrate that human presence in the archipielago could date back to 35,000 BC...." 

_**"Oh Light, this is boring. I thought university would be fun, like in those shows where all the college people are partying all  day long"** _

How many times she has to tell him to not speak to her in public? She can't answer. She looks at Rem . She rarely speaks with Rem, Rem is quiet even with Ryuk, who chatters her off endlessly. She know Rem is not very fond of her but it doesn't matter, she wouldn't  anything against her, the reason why she is here is to honor her fallen friends' memory. And Gelus'd never wanted something bad happening to her. She wonder if she could trick Rem to give her life for her in a death-or-life situation... _ **  
**_

Light hopes to never be in that position, but one never knows. Since the weeks when her house was bugged, L hasn't announced other movements. And in some ways, it feels like the calm before the storm, but she can't do any moves until L makes his. He has the power. For now.

Light looks to her professor, Izumi-san, with desinterest.  For all his yammering, Ryuk may be kind of right. History is one of Light's favorites subjects. But she already knows everything about Japan's history. Besides he seems to have a rather propagandist view of the country's events. He likes to point out how Japan had the quickest industrialization in the world, accomplishing in a decade what Europe took a century, or how Japan was the biggest victim in WWII. Instead of straying to greyer areas like the Nanking Massacre, Japan's own share of guilt in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the Anti-British propaganda.

Light pulls out her cellphone, hidden with her desk and her purse. Playing with her cellphone in class isn't something she tends to do, no matter how bored she is, but the professor looks inmersed in his own words, and Light thinks that she can afford a few minutes of leisure

_14 unread messages from Misa Amane_

It has been several days since she saw Misa for the last time. She has been ingnoring the poor's girl's messages and calls to hang out. That may not a good idea in the long run. As annoying as Misa may be, she is an influential figure as an upcoming model who is a Kira supporter. She might need people like her supporting Kira. Perhaps she will call her tomorrow, Sayuwould like that...

Speaking of Sayu, her sister has been acting _very_ weird the past few days, like something is eating her mind. Light has been busy in her Kira duties and, but probably she could talk with Sayu about whatever is bothering her. Even if it's something as silly as a boy.

Who says Light is not a good, understanding sister?

"Something to say for yourself?"

Light breaks out her daze, worried that maybe she was caught daydreaming. She was chastised a few time for doing that, back in high school, but the teachers already knew her, the great student she was, so they never made a big deal out of it. But this is her first day, and she doesn't want to made a fool of herself.

But the professor was not looking at her. Rather the student in the door. Hideki Ryuga. Light isn't surprised to see him. This is History of Japan, every students has to take this class. 

"Young man, this class starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 10:00 AM, and right now is " the proffesor makes a show of looking his watch, as if he doesn't already know what hour is " 8:29. We are almost finishing."What's your name, if I may ask?"

"Hideki Ryuga" 

And just like in To-Oh's Entrance Ceremony, the whispers doesn't made themselves wait.

"Hideki Ryuga?" Izumi-san furrows his brow "You're the young man who got perfect perfect scores in the entrance exam" he says impressed.

"I am" he responded, no a bit of pride or conceit in his voice. Light finds that odd.

The professor's actitude softens a bit "Let me tell you, what you did was very impressive, but that's not excuse to get late. Have a seat, but try to always be early"

"I overslept. It won't happen again"

"I hope so"  and Izumi-zan returned to his class

Unfortunately for him, the class' whispering, didn't stop. Not longer commenting how strange is that their classmate shares the same name with a famous star, not even about his perfect scores; but about how strange is his way of sitting, like a overgrown bird, and the way he picks his pencils, looks like the way an ape would grab a pencil. Hell, apes had a more correct handgrip on things. That doesn't take long to piss off the pofessor. This time his anger isn't directed to Hideki Ryuga, but the rest of the class.

"Anything you'd like to share with us?" he asked to the group of whisperers. They laugh nervously, obviously embarrased to admit they had been talking about a classmate in such an obvious way.

"I wonder, it had something to do with Mr Ryuga's...peculiarities?" he crings, he is a bit embittered but polite enough to not point out the obvious.

"Ehh...well...we...Uhh" Man, they are lame.

Apparently Hideki is aware about he _is_ weird, yet not aware enough to change such weirdness "I think what our classmates are commenting my way of sitting. I had found out that this position allows me to increase my deductive abilities to a 40%"

Thank goodness this is college and not high school, so no one isn't gonna laugh at him. In front of him, that's it. Light knows that Sudo and some other bullies back from her former high school would have loved to pick on in this oddball.

The professor has a face that denotes that he thinks that's ridiculous, but he doesn't say out loud. "All right students, you may quiz Mr Ryuga about his way of sitting all you want when the class is over. I require all your attention here please"

And thankfully, the rest of the class is spend in peace for everyone except Light, who has to stand Ryuk's endless complaints.

* * *

But all good things have to come to an end.

 "You have to get a partner for this semester. Remember, the partner you chose isn't going to be just your partner for this assignament, but for the rest of assignaments in this class. He or she will be your partner for the whole semester, so chose wisely!" the professor says nearly finalizing his class, his voice almost drowned between the ocean of student standing up and hastily getting out the classroom.

Light doesn't like to made homeworks in group. She prefers to work alone. And she very much dislikes asking to other people: "Can I be in your team?" She feels like she's begging. So she always waits for someone to ask _her_. Many here know about how bright she is, so someone is going to ask her to partner sooner ot latter.

"Can I do the assignaments alone?" a hunched figure asks in front of Izumi-san's bureau. Hideki. Of course it's him.

"It has to be done in couples. If the class has an uneven number, join a couple and made a trio " Izumi-san responds in a tone that holds no place for rebuttal.

Light thinks that maybe Hideki asks because he knows that no one is going ask him to partner with him. Not matter his scores, his appearance and mannerism managed to susscefully pull off potential classmates. It's not like Light to get involved with freaks like him, but based in their talk in To-Oh Ceremony, he is extremely smart. Worth talking with. And besides he basically has "I'm weak, take care of me" sign on his back. Light likes to think of herself as compassionate and always willing to lend a hand.

"Hideki-san, perhaps you prefer to work alone, I do too, but rules and rules. You can be MY partner if you want" she said with a disarming smile.

And Hideki looked at her with those enormous raccoon-eyes, and for a moment she thought he was going to say no, but he just placed his thumb on his lips and muttered a clear "All right"

* * *

It's Easy.

Very Easy.

_Too Easy._

L has no intentions to do any homeworks, he isn't a real student, he is just here to keep an eye on Light. Since Watari will be doing all schoolwork for him, L asks if he can do the homeworks alone. But just in the moment Izumi-san denies his petition, Light jumps in and announces that she can be his partner in the semester assignament.

Not that L is complaining. He isn't going to waste his time doing schoolwork if such task is going to be at Light' side, but L can't help but wonder why she asked him to be her partner in History? She surely had many options besides him. L is aware that he has many traits considered inusual. So why? She suspects of him as well? She wants to be close to him to investigates him, just as him wants to be close to her to investigate her?

The probabilities of her suspecting him are extremely low (L calculates a minus -2% of probablities) but even so...

Still, it's too good of an opportunity to deny it. So L accepts, even if a voice in the back on his head tells him how dangerous is this. Who knows what Light is hiding under that deceiving smile?

"Wait , we have to exchange phones!"

L turns to see Light, phone in hand. L almost says that isn't neccesary, until he remembers that Light doesn't know that he already has her number ( and hacked it too, so he can hear or read any messages/calls she makes) They swap numbers, and they part ways for the rest of the day.

L spends the next hours in numbness,  only making sure that he writes any assignaments. He has to vigilate Light, and he can't do that if he is expelled out the university. Most of his core classes are the same as Light, but L enrolled for a major in Computer Engineering, instead of Light who opted for a major in Biology. L thought about enrolling in the same degree as her but he thought that would be too much of a coincidence.

L is aware that she had helped his father and the NPA in many difficult cases (not as difficult as the ones **L** has solved, but still, it's very impressive) since she was 12, so he expected her to enroll in a career more related to that field of work, like Laws, Forensics Sciences or Criminology. It's not really strange, though, becuase L hads talked with Chief Yagami and he has proved to be a man very overprotective of her daughters, it makes sense that he doesn't want them to be in danger's way. 

_"So eager to please everyone right Light?"_

* * *

 Sayu knows when a situation has reached her maximum point.

The last few days has passed like it never has actually passed. Her father is not home enough to notice her moopy mood, but her mother has noticed, just this morning she asked her if she was feeling bad. Sayu smiled at her and told her that it just a cold. Her mother bought it.

Sayu doesn't know if  Light has noticed it or not. And frankly, she is the last person she wants to notice it.

_"...And the man who dropped to the floor in the video? He is dead. By heart attack..."_

She thinks back to that day in Shibuya, the dark-haired woman who presented herself as L. Was she really L? Sayu It was just so impossible! So incredible! 

Despite her disbelief, her mind already accepted that fact. Sayu is not a genius as Light but she can trace facts. That woman know about her being present that day, in that precise hour, in Shibuya. That place was filled with accomplices of the dark-haired woman, so either they bought the place ot threatened their former owners to give it to them. She also had access to secret information, private to the Police, as security cameras from the street and such

She is skimming through a random magazine, over a random article about Ami Hamazaki. She is not one of her favorite singers but Hideki Ryga is laying low for a while (rumor has it that he is in rehab) and she needs something, _anything_ , to help her divagate from her uneasy mind. Frustrated for her lack of success on it, she closes her magazine and  without thinking she goes to Light's room.

Light's room is so tidy, so inmaculate. The shelves, the bed, the trunk, her private bathroom, everything is in perfect order and clean. In sharp contrast with Sayu, whose room is a mess of clothes thrown around, a messy bed, magazines and Hideki Ryuga's posters everywhere. Even the color palette of Light' room, formed by soft colors, contrast with Sayu's room, painted in an obnoxious purple. She can almost hear her mother's complaints in her head.

 _"Oh Sayu, why can't you be more like your sister?"_ her mother repines to her when she compares their bedrooms...

But today Sayu is not preocuppied with that. She is here because she wants... Oh God, she can't belive she is actually going to do this. She wants to see if she can find something in this room. To see is Light is Kira or not, she doesn't know. She only knows that she needs to do something.

She doesn't find anything. Light's room is so stupidly neat, that either the room is way too neat to hide something, or way too neat so you _wouldn't_ notice if someone hid something. Also Light has the most boring taste in books. Frank Kafka, Thomas Pynchon, Julio Cortazar, Yasunari Kawabata. Where is the Stephen King's or the J.K Rowlings'?*

A hour passes and Sayu is ready to call it a day. She didn't find a thing, but if anything, that actually helped her to calm down. She feels like her sister isn't hiding something. So what if L suspects her? Word's greatest detective in the world or not, L is still human, and humans can be wrong sometimes.

But before she leaves, she inspects the desk. It's a pretty mahogany desk. The first drawer contains some of Light's old high school papers (Sayu rolls her eyes, in all those papers the lowest score was 97%) but the second drawer is closed. Light looks around and finds a key hanger close to Light's bathroom. She pick the keys there and tries it one for one.

For a moment she feels guilty for doing this, feels like she is violating her sister's privacy. But then she remembers why she is doing this and the guilt quickly dissipates. This is more important than respect for someone's privacy.

Finaly she find the correct key, and she opens the drawers to find a small notebook. A diary. Sayu laughs. _Never thought Light could be so sentimental_. Well, knowing Light, she probably has some entries there worthy of a Nobel Prize in Literature.

Nothing interesting is found there. Just entries about mechanical thing she does. What she ate, what she dressed, the book she read. Not only Light's taste in books is boring, she _is_ boring. Of course, Sayu says that in the most affective way possible.

She threw the notebook carelessly into the drawer, and the drawer moved a bit. Sayu 's eyes widened. That was posiblle. That was a solid desk made of wood, unless it was a fake drawer. She unsuscessfully tried to pull it out by force. She crouched and watched how a very small hole, nearly imperceptible, was below the desk. It was too small for her finger to get in, but a needle would do. And since no needles around, she pulled the mine of a pencil. She put the pencil inside, and the drawer was slowly lifting. Her heart was palpitalting like she had just ran a marathon, and her eyes caught...circuits? inside the drawer. Just a bit more and the whole drawer would come off... So close...

"What are you doing here Sayu?" a harsh voice in the doorway said. Light.

Sayu turned to blurt her excuse. Any excuse. But words didn't get to reach her mouth, since a large _explosion_ coming from her sister's desk, suddenly was denoted. The impact was enough to send her flying metres away, with her head connecting rather painfully against the ground.

Her world became black.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments!
> 
> * Find someone's else fingerprints from a corpse is possible, but incredible difficult, expecially if too much time has passed since the body's death, the process work better if made a fews hours after the victim's death. Since the autopsy determined that Sakajo's death was thanks to a heart attack a "natural" cause of death, they didn't bother to get fingerprints or anything else, and by the time Misa went to the Police, he had just been cremated (99.8 of Japanese people prefer cremation over burying) which is why L says "In the short time the body was available"
> 
> * At this point of the story, Kira is still a recent thing, so I guess many people (celebrities) would be reluctant to voice their opinions either with or against Kira.
> 
> * I have nothing against Stephen King or J.K Rowlings. I just think that Light wouldn't be too much of a fan of mainstream literature (although the authors I mentioned are a far cry of being unknowns)
> 
> *Oh, and the Task Force doesn't know Naomi's real name. They think her name is Shoko Misora (L referred to her as Misora in chapter 8) not Naomi Misora. Just to be clear.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistrust arises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sooooo boring, but next one will be more exciting, I promise.
> 
> English isn't my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

The softness of linen was the first thing Sayu noticed before she opened her eyes. The second thing she noticed was the terrible headache she had, as if a truck had run over her. And third and last thing she noticed was a blurred figure, that gradually materialized into Light

Sayu wanted to open her mouth to express something. But her plaintive attempt was interrupted by a series of violent coughs, quickly another blurred figure approached her, one that she couldn't distinguish yet.

"You woke up!" in that moment he/she put a light too bright right in front her eyes. Sayu turned abruptly, wanting to get away from the annoying and intrusive light. The figure nodded, pleased.

"Her reflexes of vision are intact. She does not seem to have a concussion either, but even so, the blow to her head was really strong, so I think she needs a day or two of rest. In bed preferably, not brusque movements whatsoever.

"So she is gonna be fine?"

"Yes. But next time you and your sister have to be more careful. Science can be dangerous, I would know that" the figure (a doctor?) said while playfully tapping his temple. He packed his things, and expressed his goodbyes to Light. The latter sat on her and talked to Sayu, trying to make her comfortable

Sayu felt like in limbus, but after a few minutes in lethargic state, her mind violated her with a violent spate of memories. Her meeting in Shibuya, Light, the pencil...

What the fuck was that Light?" she screamed when finally, finally, her brain and her mouth decided to be cooperative with each other, interrupting whatever Light had been talking to her a second ago.

Light seemed undecided for a second or two before she arranged her face in a distressed yet calm expression. "I kept an experiment in the drawer: A water propulsor powered by saltwater*, and I must remember you Sayu, that's one of the reasons why I kept it under lock and key..."

"Don't turn this on me! You kept a fucking bomb under your desk! What the fucking fuck Light?"

"I think you're getting out of line Sayu" Light responded, a flash of anger in her delicate features. Good, Sayu was angry too.

"I have a right, don't you think? Thanks to you, I'm stuck to this bed." she gestured to her body and the bed. She wanted Light to feel guilty for this.

Apparently it worked, because Light lowered her eyes, and with a meek voice she replied "I'm really sorry about what happened, and I know there' nothing I can do to make up to you, so I'll leave until your anger goes away"

Even with the stability of her movements heavily lowered, Sayu managed to angrily throw the cushion of his bed, only clumsily hitting the door just in the same time Light closed it "Yes, please, do that"

* * *

" _For the love of ... what could be worse than this?"_ Light though while leaning herself against the door if her own bedroom.

Light's world turned sluggish when she saw her sister just one step away from discovering her darkest, biggest secret, and then it became quick, too quick for Light, too quick for her to react properly and not staying still for a couple seconds, like a total fool, when she saw her sister shoot out into the air.

Not that she was particularly worried about the bomb being lethal to Sayu. The vinegar-and-soidum based bomb was, to a large extent, non lethal*, and served to keep onlookers at bay, away of the contents of the drawer, since the circuits that she built actually activated  _two_  explosions. The  _real_  bomb that destroyed the Death Note was one based in fire with a 10ml bottle of gasoline*, but the Death Note itself was inside a small steel box (bought in Amazon) and  _inside_  that box was also sandwiched between two small pieces of dry wall (a fireproof material) making the explosion minor than already was, so the only thing that would get burned will be the notebook inside. Just in case, Light keep a homemade extinguisher at hand too.

Her excuse that she stored an experiment there might sound a bit too unbelievable ... but at least it was better than saying "There I hid my real diary "...True, she could have used a less scandalous method of self-destruction for the Death Note, but there was no point in crying over spilled milk, regretting past decisions and such. Also, it was not the first time that Light conducted dangerous experiments inside the house.

* * *

_Flashback_

_It was a Saturday. Light was around 7 years old, Sayu about 4 years old, and Light worked hard in a project she was goign to present next monday: an electric edgine made by herself. Light was going to be participating in a science fair, and she was anticipating bringing home the shiny medal of 1# place. Facts like she being a first grader participating against middle schoolers or that was her first time participating in a science fair were inconsecuential. She wanted to_ _ **win,**_ **and she was going to**   _ **.**_ _She promised it to her Oni-chan... She rarely get to saw him those days..._

_Sayu had his mouth open, amazed at the the magic that her sister seemed to produce. Sayu was in that stage of "why's", that stage that bothers adults so much, but Light did not seem to be bothered at all, and only was dedicated to conterstar his infinite questions, with much patience, much more patience than a kid her age should have. And Sachiko, who watched out of the corner of her eyes, was charmed by the beautiful image that her daughters provided._

_However, Sayu, childishly, was not satisfied with just looking, and put her hands wet in the switched on edgine, they burned at the instant. The girl yelped and triped against the ground, breaking one of her front teeth. Her painful cries prominently increased to a double._

_"Mma, Light hit me!" Sayu screamed while crying. Light widened her eyes at the accusation and started to do denial motions with her head._

_Sachiko ran to his little daughter thrown over the grass, who was crying her eyes out of the pain her tooth caused her. She did all she could, putting ice on her hand, rubbing toothpaste over her hand, placing cutesy kisses over her face. After many hours of constant crying, Sayu finally seemed to calm down. Monday came quite quickly._

_"Sayu?" a shy voice said from the door. It was Light, with a tray of cookies, bread, jam and other foods. "Can I pass?"_ _Sayu told him yes and Light quickly ran to her side. Sayu had missed her. Light had avoided her since the incident._

_"Look what I brought you"_

_"Ahhhh!" Without waiting for another answer, Sayu started to stuff himself with a cookie. Light just looked at her uncomfortably._

_"Sayu?"_

_"Uh?" Sayu said barely looking at her, busy choosing between so many treats._

_"This is my way of apologizing, I'm so sorry for what happened" Light lowly muttered_

_"Oh, do not worry, it was a milk tooth, and look at everything you brought me, you're the best. the queen of cookies, just like I am the queen of dogs" she said wagging the cookie tray, crumbs spilling all over the bed. Light groaned fondly, her sister petted her grandmother's angry dog once (her mother almost died out of scare) and since then she had taken to call herself "the queen of dogs"_

_"Oh, and did you win?_

_"I did" Light said proudly, pulling the gold medal out her backpack_

_"Congraaatulations" Sayu said with his mouth full, proudly showing his cupped mouth._

_The combination of being temporarily toothless, with the chews of chewed food in her gums would normally seem disgusting to Light, but her sister looked so damn happy eating her knickknacks, that she couldn't help but smile. Sayu smiled back, toothless and all._

* * *

Now the awful thing: now she only had one Death Note

But for some reason, she could still see and hear Ryuk.

"Why I can still see you?" Ryuk had told her that if the death Note was destroyed, its owner would lose all memories of the notebook, along with the ability of seeing the Shinigami bound to it.

 _ **"Mnn, Dunno"**_ the Shinigami chuckled, scratching his chin.

Light rolled her eyes "One can't really count on you right?"

_**"You got that right"** _

Thankfully Light was also haunted by another Shinigami,a smarter one, even if that one didn't like her "Well Rem, do you know why I can still see Ryuk?"

"You still have Gelus' notebook, and your memories of having Gelus' notebook are intrinsically connected with your memories about your previous Death Note"

Light hummed. It did make sense.

So what's what she do now?

She had a Death Note less. And the circumstances in which she lost it were less than ideal. For one, the self-destruction mechanism was installed in case the police or L started digging in her stuff, not for her sister to blow out herself. But technically, the self destruction mechanism carried out its function: not let the Death Note fall into the wrong hands. Light can only imagine what would had happened if Sayu had successfully opened the drawer, that she had touched the Death Note, being able to see Ryuk...She shuddered. Yeah,it probably was for the best. At least, the lesser of two evils.

"Ryuk, do you have another notebook?"

" _ **Hyuk, I have one, but don't think I would give it to you. It's forbidden."**_  Ryuk said while tighly hugging his Death Note close to his chest.

" And you think you could get another one to me?" Light said in the sweetest tone she could manage, with fluttering lashes and all.

Ryuk put a face of incredulity so false that it hurt "Have you any idea how hard was get that notebook you owned?" Light raised her eyebrows. _Oh really._

Ryuk deflated  _ **"Fine, I see what I can do"**_  and so he springled his wings, perhaps going back to the Shinigami Realm.

 _ **"But this will cost you many apples Light!"**_ he said before he took fly and dissapeared in the skies.

Light sighed  _"My, this will be a hard one to explain"_  she thought while pressing the numbers of her cellphone.

* * *

The Task Force had just finished their round of investigation for the day. Today it was a lucky day, since they would be leaving early. Even Aizawa seemed a bit more upbeat, happy to see her wife and small daughter. Matsuda was excitedly chatting about going to a karaoke bar that had just opened, and Mogi and Ukita...who knows?

Soichiro was also gleeful to leave and enjoy one of her wife's homemade meals and a decent night of sleep. When he and the rest of the Task Force were turning on their cellphones, he frowned when he saw 7 lost calls, all from Light.

"What's wrong Chief?" a youngful voice asked to his right. Soichiro smiled to Matsuda. He may annoy him sometimes with his tendency to not take thing seriously enough, but unlike the rest of the Task Force, he knew the golden heart inside the young officer, and Matsuda, for all his faults, was one of the bravest men he had ever meet.

"Light called me. It's OK, It's probably nothing" he said in a dismissive way so he didn't sound alarmed to his subordinate.

L's ears perked up at the mention of Light. He wanted to ask what was about the calls, but he supposed it would seem too strange for him to take an interest in Light. It probably had nothing to do with the Kira case, or everything at all, but he just couldn't ask. But it didn't matter. He would find out later anyways.

* * *

"Light, can't believe it...But Sayu is okay?" her father said in a tired voice after looking at the mess that used to be Light's desk.

"Yes, she is okay. The paramedics placed her on her own bed. I called doctor Sakamura. She isn't going to even need to go to the hospital, he said that she was going to be fine with couple days of repose, eating only soft foods"

Soichiro nodded silently. Light saw the pronounced wrinkles in his face, how his shoulders seemed a bit heavier, and for a moment she felt guilty. Light was almost sure that her father was working in the Kira case, and that was getting him so tired. Ironic, Kira was in front of him. But it was necessary. Light knew the absolutely morally upright person her father was, how many birthday, How much he had missed thanks to the criminals infesting society. He may not like her methods, but she was doing this for him too, giving him the opportunity to rest and watch the birth of a world full of justice that he secretly craved. If only he could see it...

"Sayu"

"Dad" Sayu crankily greeted, but inmediately loosened the actitude. She was in a foul mood, but it was no need to take on her father.

"Light told me what happened"

"Really, she told you that she basically kept a bomb under her desk." Sayu sarcastically said.

"Come on, you know it wasn't like that. Your sister is deeply sorry for what happened.

" Will she be grounded at least?

"Trust me, she and I are going to have a  _very stern_  talk about keeping dangerous things inside the house. But you have to admit something, she is right about you having no business sniffing around her stuff. It's private" Soichiro felt like a hypocrite saying that, since he allowed his house to be bugged. But, he told himself, that was made in the sake of the bigger good. Totally different situation.

* * *

Dinner was another painfully awkward business. Since Sayu couldn't got out her bed, they ate in her bed room. Her mother, who had spent the whole day with her friend in fkea narkets. She was furious with Light, she looked almost wanting to slap her, but her husband manager to dissuade a bigger conflict. Her mother cooked grilled chicken, which was Sayu favorite, but since Sayu couldn't eat it, she made a soft vegetable broth for her.

Normally Sayu had a big appetite, but no today, and not just because she was unable to eat anything solid but today she was busy thinking in other stuff.

" _Should I tell Dad the truth? That the reason why I was searching Light's room because the encounter with the woman who called herself L?"_

"So how's work Dad?" she cringed at the lame attempt. She was trying for a smooth way to open the subject of Kira and she only managed to look lame.

"Things have been tired lately... That reminds me: Light I'm sorry I missed you birthday, It's just that..."

Light held up a hand "No need to explain Dad. I know how much you work and how busy you are"

"Still, it's not right, or fair, for you, or your sister..." Troubled, he therw the chopticks, earning a look from all the presents "Look, I have something to tell you. Your mother already knows...and she and I have been debating if to tell you or not" Both sisters put their plates down, waiting for their father's annonucement

Soichiro took a deep breath "I'm working on the Kira case"

"WHAT?" Sayu was so surpised that she nearly spit the food over the bed. Light did her best attempt to look impressed, even if this wasn't nothing new to her. Nonetheless, she was surprised that  _her_   _mother_  already knew.

"I didn't want to tell you, it's secret you know. Right now we are in a special force to bring Kira down"

Sayu played with the broth on her bowl "And did you met L? I mean L is involved in this too? You are a subordinate of L right?"

Light frowned. Those were  _strange_  questions, coming from Sayu.

Soichrio placed another chunk of grilled chicken on his mouth, not looking at Sayu " You know I can't discuss the details of a secret investigation, even less so of a case of the caliber of the Kira case"

" Till now, Kira has never attacked members of the Police... but doesn't change the fact that Kira is just some other murderer..."

Light's teeth gritted.

"...So this can be very dangerous for me"

For a small moment, everything about Light flown out of Sayu's head, replaced for sheer worry for her father " But Dad, if you think that he is dangerous you should quit. I don't want you to die..." Sayu nearly sobbed.

Soichiro looked at her youngest with tenderness and pity. Her mother had the same look on her face. Light decided to take the conversation on her own.

"It's a very honorable thing of you Dad" Light declared with a firm voice "I'm so, so proud of you. I know how much time you've invested into convincing me to not join the Police Force. However I'm gonna be clear right now: if something happens to you, I will find Kira myself...and I will make sure that he gets executed."

No more words were needed, so Light turned on her heels to abandon the room, leaving behind a tearful Sachiko, a worried Soichiro, and and an astonished Sayu.

* * *

Sayu's sleep was very disordely these days. She fussed like an angry cat on her bed, trying to find sleep and not finding it. She finally gave up. She could have started to pace across the room, but since she was bebridden, she stayed still, looking at the ceiling.

 _"Light isn't Kira. If she was, she had never told Dad that she was goign to make sure that Kira will be brought to Justice. Kira_ _ **is**_ _evil, Light_ _ **is not**_ _._   _I'm convinced of it"_

But, if she was truly convinced, why her heart was still so full of uneasiness?

A few metres away, in her own room, Light was absently reading a book. Lolita. One of Light's favorites, but her mind wasn't on it. Her mind was replaying, over and over again, the facts that occurred sooner in the day. How her sister was searching her room. Quizzing Dad with questions about his job. She never did that before.

_"Does Sayu suspect anything? It's possible that she suspects...that I am Kira?"_

They didn't know yet, but her sisterly bond was being threatened, by a ocean of doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *It's true that the vinegar and sodium bomb is mostly non-lethal, but still is not recommended to use, obviously. And I'm not sure the bomb itself has enough force to send you flying across the air, but for the sake of this story, let's pretend it's XD (I'm not scientist OK?)
> 
> *In the anime, Light says that the bomb contains a bag of gasoline. But in real life, a plastic bag can be desintegrated by the gasoline, a bottle would be more appropiate.
> 
> *And in my opinion, hide a dangerous experiment is a more believable excuse than "My diary is so secret that I put a bomb there" Do you agree?
> 
> I suck writing kids, but I try my best. Chibi!Sayu is inspired in my cousin, who once hit herself for jumping on me, and then blamed me... The queen of dogs thing is hers too.
> 
> * Water propulsor, or hidrojet, do exist, but I don't know how dangerous they can be. And I don't know if they can be powered by saltwater (even if saltwater can power up a light bulb) Again, let's just pretend...


	16. Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language, so feel free to point out any mistakes.
> 
> Happy birthday to this fic! Happy birthday to this fic! Happy birthday, Happy birthday, Happy birthday to it!

Be a scientist is about findings the truth. There no between in science. Either something is, or isn't.

Be a detective is both the same, and something altogether different. Detectives follow their instincts, their guts. But gut feelings and instincts don't build cases. Hard, cold proof does.

After inspecting all his investigation in Light Yagami for the past moths. L find himself impressed. If Light really is Kira (there is a 5% she isn't) she's been extremely careful. Almost a step beyond him, as much L hates to admit it. The closest call was during the whole fiasco with the FBI, but then again Light could perfectly allegate ignorance about the whole thing, allegating that she merely saw a strange man following her and decided to call the Police for it. After all, Penber wasn't the most competent agent around, wasn't him?

Aside from it, there was absolutely no proof connecting her to Kira. If L was another detective, a less skilled one, he had probably already dropped her from his list. After all, cases are build in solid proof.

That's it, until Misa Amane entered the picture.

L did a investigation on Amane with her colleages, using some of his associates to pose as personalities of the world of fashion, and tricking the girls into telling them information about their colleagues by asking why they thought they deserved getting hired over the other girls. Modeling is a competitive field, and most girls are willing to sell their teammates to the Devil if that means they're going to get the most juicy contract. A quality L can appreciate.

After a long list of interviews, after getting a lot of generic responses, they hit the jackpot when one of the other models described Misa  as a "Kira-obsessed freak"

"Devout to Kira, almost obsessed" The girl also said. That works wonderfully for L. The actions of devout, obsessed people are not dictated by logic, but passion. They are so easy to manipulate.

You just need them to bite the bait.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good, Bad, Average! Leave kudos or and comments!
> 
> Before anyone gets in my case for writing such a short chapter, well this chapter was going to be originally along 2000+ words, however isn't ready yet, and since today is the one-year-anniversary of this fic, it seemed fitting to me to at least post a very small part of it, at least to let people know I haven't abandoned this story. This is why this chapter is called Part I, instead of the rest of the chapters which are nameless, and not because this chapter is special or anything like that :)

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think? Good, Bad, Average? Leave kudos or/and comments.
> 
> This fic borrows elements of Alexythimia, one of the best GB fics I have read... (despite the fact it just has 3 chapters) and other fics I will name later, because I'm unoriginal like that :D The lack of GB fics on this fandom is what made write this.
> 
> I have just a vague idea of where this is going, so any suggestions are welcomed.
> 
> Poll for the audience: Should Light kill Lind L.Taylor or not? Not killing him would be more original (since it was such an obvious trap), but it would mean sacrifice my favorite DN moment. Tell me what you think in the comments.


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